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Stories  of  the  Nations 

A Series  of  Historical  Studies  intended  to  present  in 
graphic  narratives  the  stories  of  the  different 
nations  that  have  attained  prominence  in  history. 


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noteworthy  periods  and  episodes  are  presented  for 
the  reader  in  their  philosophical  relations  to  each 
other  as  well  as  to  universal  history. 


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BUDDHIST  INDIA 


FIG.  50.  — THE  GREAT  BUDDHIST  TOPE  AT  SANCHI  BEFORE  RESTORATION. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS 


Buddhist  India 


BY 

T.  W.  RH Ys'dAVIDS,  LL.D.,  Ph.D. 


PROFESSOR  OF  PALI  AND  BUDDHIST  LITERATURE  AT  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE 
LONDON 

AUTHOR  OF  “ BUDDHISM  : ITS  HISTORY  AND  LITERATURE,”  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

LONDON  : T.  FISHER  UNWIN 


1 003 


Copyright,  1903 
By  G.  P.  PUTNAM’S  SONS 
Entered  at  Stationers’  Hall,  London 
By  T.  FISHER  UNWIN 


Published,  June,  1903 


Zbc  Iknfcfecrbocfecr  |prcssp  Heve 


PREFACE 

IN  the  following  work  a first  attempt  has  been 
made  to  describe  ancient  India,  during  the  pe- 
riod of  Buddhist  ascendancy,  from  the  point  of 
view,  not  so  much  of  the  brahmin,  as  of  the  rajput. 
The  two  points  of  view  naturally  differ  very  much. 
Priest  and  noble  in  India  have  always  worked  very 
well  together  so  long  as  the  question  at  issue  did 
not  touch  their  own  rival  claims  as  against  one  an- 
other. When  it  did — and  it  did  so  especially  during 
the  period  referred  to — the  harmony,  as  will  be  evi- 
dent from  the  following  pages,  was  not  so  great. 

Even  to  make  this  attempt  at  all  maybe  regarded 
by  some  as  a kind  of  lese  majesty.  The  brahmin 
view,  in  possession  of  the  field  when  Europeans 
entered  India,  has  been  regarded  so  long  with  rev- 
erence among  us  that  it  seems  almost  an  imperti- 
nence now,  to  put  forward  the  other.  “ Why  not 
leave  well  alone  ? Why  resuscitate  from  the  well- 
deserved  oblivion  in  which,  for  so  many  centuries, 
they  have  happily  lain,  the  pestilent  views  of  these 
tiresome  people?  The  puzzles  of  Indian  history 
have  been  solved  by  respectable  men  in  Manu  and 
the  Great  Bharata,  which  have  the  advantage  of  be- 

iii 


IV 


PREFACE 


ing  equally  true  for  five  centuries  before  Christ  and 
five  centuries  after.  Shade  of  Kumarila!  what  are 
W'e  coming  to  when  the  writings  of  these  fellow's — 
renegade  brahmins  among  them  too — are  actually 
taken  seriously,  and  mentioned  without  a sneer? 
If  by  chance  they  say  anything  v'ell,  that  is  only 
because  it  was  better  said,  before  they  said  it,  by 
the  orthodox  brahmins,  who  form,  and  have  always 
formed,  the  key-stone  of  the  arch  of  social  life  in 
India.  They  are  the  only  proper  authorities.  Why 
trouble  about  these  miserable  heretics?” 

Well,  I w'ould  plead,  in  extenuation,  that  I am 
not  the  first  guilty  one.  People  who  found  coins 
and  inscriptions  have  not  been  deterred  from  con- 
sidering them  seriously  because  they  fitted  very 
badly  with  the  brahmin  theories  of  caste  and  his- 
tory. The  matter  has  gone  too  far,  those  theories 
have  been  already  too  much  shaken,  for  any  one  to 
hesitate  before  using  every  available  evidence.  The 
evidence  here  collected,  a good  deal  of  it  for  the 
first  time,  is  necessarily  imperfect ; but  it  seems  of- 
ten to  be  so  suggestive,  to  throw  so  much  light  on 
points  hitherto  dark,  or  even  unsuspected,  that  the 
trouble  of  collecting  it  is,  so  far  at  least,  fairly  justi- 
fied. Any  words,  however,  are,  I am  afraid,  of  little 
avail  against  such  sentiments.  Wherever  they  exist 
the  inevitable  tendency  is  to  dispute  the  evidence, 
and  to  turn  a deaf  ear  to  the  conclusions.  And 
there  is,  perhaps,  after  all,  but  one  course  open,  and 
that  is  to  declare  war,  always  with  the  deepest  re- 
spect for  those  who  hold  them,  against  such  views. 
The  views  are  wrong.  They  are  not  compatible 


PREFA  CE 


V 


with  historical  methods,  and  the  next  generation 
will  see  them,  and  the  writings  that  are,  uncon- 
sciously, perhaps,  animated  by  them,  forgotten. 

Another  point  of  a similar  kind,  which  ought  not 
in  this  connection  to  be  left  unnoticed,  is  the  pre- 
valent pessimistic  idea  with  regard  to  historical  re- 
search in  India.  There  are  not  only  wanting  in 
India  such  books  giving  consecutive  accounts  of  the 
history  as  we  are  accustomed  to  in  Europe,  but  even 
the  names  and  dates  of  the  principal  kings,  and 
battles,  and  authors,  have  not  been  preserved  in  the 
literature — that  is,  of  course,  in  the  brahmin  litera- 
ture which  is  all  that  has  hitherto  been  available  to 
the  student.  That  is  unfortunately  true,  and  some 
of  the  special  causes  which  gave  rise  to  this  state  of 
things  are  pointed  out  below.  But  the  other  side 
of  the  question  should  not  be  ignored.  If  we  com- 
pare the  materials  available  for  the  history,  say,  of 
England  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  A.D.  with 
the  materials  available  for  the  history  of  India  at 
the  same  period  the  difference  is  not  so  very  marked. 
The  more  proper  comparison,  moreover,  would  be 
made  with  Europe  ; for  India  is  a continent  of  many 
diverse  nations.  And  in  the  earlier  periods,  though 
we  have  inherited  a connected  history  of  one  corner 
in  the  south-east  of  the  continent,  the  records 
handed  down  for  the  rest  of  Europe  are  perhaps  as 
slight  and  as  imperfect  as  those  handed  down  in 
India.  What  is  of  more  importance,  in  Europe,  for 
the  earlier  periods,  all  the  inherited  materials  have 
been  made  available  for  the  historical  student  by 
properly  edited  and  annotated  editions,  and  also  by 


VI 


PREFA  CE 


dictionaries,  monographs,  and  helps  of  all  sorts.  In 
India  much  of  the  inherited  material  is  still  buried 
in  MS.,  and  even  so  much  as  is  accessible  in  printed 
texts  has  been  by  no  means  thoroughly  exploited. 
Scarcely  anything,  also,  has  yet  been  done  for  the 
excavation  of  the  ancient  historical  sites.  We  might 
do  well  to  recollect,  when  we  read  these  complaints 
of  the  absence  of  materials,  that  the  remedy  lies,  to 
a very  large  extent,  in  our  own  hands.  We  might 
so  easily  have  more.  We  do  not  even  utilise  the  ma- 
terials we  have.1 

To  speak  out  quite  plainly,  it  is  not  so  much  the 
historical  data  that  are  lacking,  as  the  men.  There 
are  plenty  of  men  able  and  willing  to  do  the  work. 
But  it  is  accepted  tradition  in  England  that  all 
higher  education  may  safely  be  left  to  muddle  along 
as  it  best  can,  without  system,  under  the  not  always 
very  wise  restrictions  of  private  beneficence.  One 
consequence  is  that  the  funds  have  to  be  administered 
in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  benefactors  in  mediaeval 
times.  The  old  studies,  theology,  classics,  and  mathe- 
matics, have  a superabundance  of  endowment.  The 
new  studies  have  to  struggle  on  under  great  poverty 
and  difficulty.  There  is  no  chair  of  Assyriology,  for 
instance,  in  England.  And  whereas  in  Paris  and  Ber- 
lin, in  St.  Petersburg  and  Vienna,  there  are  great 
seminaries  of  Oriental  learning,  we  see  in  London 
the  amazing  absurdity  of  unpaid  professors  obliged 
to  devote  to  the  earning  otherwise,  of  their  living, 

1 See  on  this  question  the  very  apposite  remarks  of  Professor 
Geiger  in  his  monograph  Dipavamsa  und  Mahavamsa'  (Erlangen, 
1901). 


PREFACE 


vii 

the  time  they  ought  to  give  to  teaching  or  research. 
And  throughout  England  the  state  of  things  is 
nearly  as  bad.  In  all  England,  for  instance,  there 
are  two  chairs  of  Sanskrit.  In  Germany  the  Gov- 
ernments provide  more  than  twenty — just  as  if  Ger- 
many’s interests  in  India  were  more  than  ten  times 
as  great  as  ours.  Meanwhile  our  Government  is 
supine  and  placid,  confident  that,  somehow  or  other, 
we  shall  muddle  through  ; and  that  this  is  no  busi- 
ness of  theirs. 

This  work  has  been  long  delayed,  and  has  suffered 
much  from  the  necessity  laid  upon  me  of  trying  to 
write  it  in  scraps  of  time  rescued,  with  difficulty, 
from  the  calls  of  a busy  life.  I can  only  hope  that 
other  scholars,  more  able  and  less  hampered  than 
myself,  will  be  able  to  give  to  the  problems  of  en- 
trancing interest  I have  ventured  to  raise  a consider- 
ation more  worthy  of  them,  in  every  way,  than  I 
have  been  able  to  give. 

T.  W.  Rhys-Davids. 

October,  1902. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 


I. 

THE  KINGS  . 

• 

. I 

II. 

THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS  . 

• 

17 

III. 

THE  VILLAGE 

• 

42 

IV. 

SOCIAL  GRADES  . 

• 

- 52 

V. 

IN  THE  TOWN 

• 

• 63 

VI. 

ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 

• 

00 

VII. 

WRITING — THE  BEGINNINGS 

• 

. 107 

VIII. 

WRITING ITS  DEVELOPMENT 

. 

121 

IX. 

LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE. 

I.  GENERAL  VIEW  . 

. 140 

X. 

LITERATURE. 

II.  THE  PALI  BOOKS 

• 

161 

XI. 

THE  JATAKA  BOOK 

189 

XII. 

RELIGION — ANIMISM 

. 2 10 

XIII. 

RELIGION THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION 

• 238 

XIV. 

CHANDRAGUPTA 

• 259 

ix 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XV.  ASOKA 
XVI.  KANISHKA  . 

APPENDIX  . 
INDEX 


272 

308 

321 

323 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 


THE  GREAT  BUDDHIST  TOPE  AT  SANCHI  BEFORE 
RESTORATION  . . . Frontispiece 

KING  PASENADI  IN  HIS  CHARIOT.  ABOVE  IS  THE 

WHEEL  OF  THE  LAW  .....  9 

From  the  Bharahctt  Tope.  PI.  xiii. 

AJAKASATTU  STARTING  OUT  TO  VISIT  THE  BUDDHA  14 

KINGS  AND  QUEENS  WATCHING  A PROCESSION  AS 

IT  LEAVES  A FORT  .....  64 

From  the  Sane  hi  Tope. 

FACADE  OF  MANSION  ......  65 

From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxxi. 

SUDHAMMO,  THE  MOTE-HALL  OF  THE  GODS  . . 67 

From  the  Bharahat  'Tope.  PI.  xvi. 

ANCIENT  OPEN-AIR  BATH  AT  ANURADHAPURA 

(NO.  l)  . . . . . . . .69 

ANCIENT  OPEN-AIR  BATH  AT  ANURADHAPURA 

(no.  2) 71 

OLD  INDIAN  SCROLLWORK 72 

A Z1GGARAT  . -73 

From  Ragozin  s “ Story  of  Chaldea." 

THE  THOUSAND  PILLARS.  RUINS  OF  THE  FOUNDA- 
TION OF  THE  SEVEN-STORIED  GREAT  BRAZEN 
PALACE  AT  ANURADHAPURA  . . 75 

From  Cave’s  “ Ruined  Cities  of  Ceylon." 


xi 


I L LUSTRA  T10NS 


xii 

PAGE 

THE  SPLIT  ROCK.  GAMBLING  SCENE  FROM  THE 

BHARAHAT  TOPE  ......  77 

SCROLLWORK  ORNAMENT  AS  USED  OUTSIDE  HOUSES 

AND  ON  TOPES  IN  BUDDHIST  INDIA  . . 79 

From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xliii. 

GROUND  PLAN  AND  RESTORATION  OF  THE  BHARA- 
HAT STUPA 8l 

From  Cunningham' s “ Stupa  of  Bhar hut."  PI.  Hi. 

RES'I  ORATION  (by  W.  SIMPSON)  OF  THE  AHIN  POSH 

TOPE  ........  83 

From  the  Proceedings  of  the  R.  I.  B.  A. 

A STUPA  AS  CARVED  ON  THE  BAS-RELIEFS  . . 84 

From  Cunningham' s "Stupa  of  Bhar  hut."  PI.  xxxi. 

THE  JETAVANA  DAGABA  .....  85 

SPECIMENS  OF  ANCIENT  JEWELRY  FOUND  IN  THE 

SAKIYA  TOPE  .......  89 

From  J.  R.  A.  S.,  i8q8. 

OLD  INDIAN  GIRDLE  OF  JEWELS  91 

From  the  figure  of  Sirimd  Devata  on  the  Bharahat 
Tope.  PI.  li. 

OLD  INDIAN  NECKLACES  .....  92 

OLD  INDIAN  LOCKET.  OLD  INDIAN  EARRING.  OLD 

INDIAN  LOCKET  ......  93 

Size  of  original. 

MEDALLION  ON  THE  BHARAHAT  TOPE  ...  95 

PI.  xxiv.  Fig.  3. 

ANCIENT  INDIAN  HEAD-DRESS  ....  97 

From  a medallion  on  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxiv.  Fig.  2. 

ANATHA  PI^IDIKA’S  GIFT  OF  THE  JETAVANA  PARK  . 99 

From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  Ixvii. 

ANCIENT  INDIAN  COINS  ......  I06 


ERAN  COINS 


I I.c, 


ILL  USTRA  TIONS 


xiii 

PAGE 

LEAF  OF  MS.  FROM  THE  GOSINGA  VIHARA  OF  AN 

OLD  BUDDHIST  ANTHOLOGY  ....  122 

DR.  HOEY’S  BRICK  TABLET,  WITH  BUDDHIST  SUTTA 

INSCRIBED  ON  IT  . . . . . . 123 

THE  COPPER  PLATE  FROM  TAKKA-SILA  . . I25 

“ Epigraphia  Indica’’  vol.  iv. 

THE  MAUNG-GON  GOLD  PLATE  ....  I26 

From  “ Epigraphia  Indica”  vol.  v. , p.  101. 

LEAF  FROM  THE  BOWER  MS.  BIRCH  BARK  CUT  TO 
IMITATE  PALM  LEAVES,  WITH  HOLES  FOR 
STRINGS  TO  TIE  THEM  UP  WITH  . . . 127 

THE  INSCRIBED  VASE  FROM  THE  SAKIYA  TOPE  . 1 29 

THE  PEPPE  VASES  ......  131 

Found  by  Mr.  Peppd  in  the  Sakiya  Tope. 

RUINS  OF  THE  SAKIYA  TOPE,  PUT  UP  BY  HIS  RELA- 
TIVES OVER  THEIR  PORTION  OF  THE  ASHES 
FROM  THE  FUNERAL  PYRE  OF  THE  BUDDHA  . 133 

FRAGMENT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  ROCK  EDICT  OF 
ASOKA,  DISCOVERED  BY  PROFESSOR  RHYS- DAVIDS 
AT  GIRNAR  .......  1 35 

THE  BANYAN  DEER  J AT  AKA  STORY  . . . 193 

Three  episodes  on  one  bas-relief. 

SI  RIM  A DEVATA  .......  2l6 

From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxiii. 

MODERN  IMAGE  OF  SRI  AS  CONSORT  VISHNU  . 218 

From  Burgess’s  “ Cave  Temples  of  India,”  p.  524. 

HINDOO  GODDESS  OF  LUCK  . . . . .221 

VESSAVANA  KUVERA,  KING  OF  THE  YAKSHAS,  AND 

REGENT  OF  THE  NORTH  ....  222 

From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxii. 


XIV 


ILL  USTRA  T10NS 


PAGE 

CHAKAVAKA,  KING  OF  THE  NAGAS  . . . 222 

From  Cunningham' s “ Stupa  of  Bharhut."  PI.  xxi. 

Fig-  3- 

NAGA  MERMAIDS  IN  WATER  .....  223 

From  Burgess  and  Griinwedel's  “ Buddhist  Art  in 
India.  ” 

SEATED  NAGA;  BACK  VIEW  ....  225 

From  a fresco  in  Cave  //  at  A junta. 

ELEPHANTS  BEFORE  THE  WISDOM  TREE  . . 228 

Prom  Cunningham' s “ Stupa  of  Bharhut."  PI.  xxx. 

THE  WISDOM  TREE  OF  KASSAPA,  THE  BUDDHA  . 229 

From  Cunningham's  “ Stupa  of  Bharhut."  PI.  xxx. 

THE  BUDDHA  PREACHING  TO  NAGAS  DWELLING  IN 

A SACRED  TREE  ......  233 

From  a Buddhist  carving  at  Takt-i-bahi.  J.  R.  A.  S., 
i8<pcp. 

DETAILS  OF  THE  SCULPTURES  ON  THE  GATES  OF 

SANCHI  TOPE  ......  279 

DETAILS  ON  THE  SCULPTURES  ON  THE  GATES  OF 

SANCHI  TOPE  ......  281 

REAR  VIEW  OF  THE  NORTHERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE  283 

JAIN  TEMPLE  AT  KHUJARAO  ....  285 

THE  GREAT  BUDDHIST  TOPE  AT  SANCHI  BEFORE 

RESTORATION 287 

SANCHI  TOPE.  A GENERAL  VIEW  FROM  THE  SOUTH.  289 

EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE  ....  291 

REAR  VIEW  OF  THE  EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI 


TOPE 


293 


ILL  U SI'S  A 7 IONS 

DETAILS  FROM  EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE  . 

DETAILS  FROM  EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE  . 

MAP  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  ASOKA  AS  DESCRIBED 
IN  THE  INSCRIPTIONS  AND  IN  THE  ENGRAVED 
EDICTS  


XV 

PAGE 

3QI 

303 

32° 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  KINGS 

WHEN  Buddhism  arose  there  was  no  para- 
mount sovereign  in  India.  The  kingly 
power  was  not,  of  course,  unknown.  There  had 
been  kings  in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges  for  centuries, 
long  before  Buddhism,  and  the  time  was  fast  ap- 
proaching when  the  whole  of  India  would  be  under 
the  sway  of  monarchical  governments.  In  those 
parts  of  India  which  came  very  early  under  the 
influence  of  Buddhism,  we  find,  besides  a still  sur- 
viving number  of  small  aristocratic  republics,  four 
kingdoms  of  considerable  extent  and  power.  Be- 
sides, there  were  a dozen  or  more  of  smaller  king- 
doms, like  the  German  dutchies  or  the  seven  pro- 
vinces into  which  England  was  divided  in  the  time  of 
the  Heptarchy.  No  one  of  these  was  of  much  politi- 
cal importance.  And  the  tendency  towards  the 
gradual  absorption  of  these  domains,  and  also  of 
the  republics,  into  the  neighbouring  kingdoms,  was 


2 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


already  in  full  force.  The  evidence  at  present 
available  is  not  sufficient  to  give  us  an  exact  idea 
either  of  the  extent  of  country,  or  of  the  number  of 
the  population,  under  the  one  or  the  other  form  of 
government  ; nor  has  any  attempt  been  so  far  made 
to  trace  the  history  of  political  institutions  in  India 
before  the  rise  of  Buddhism.  We  can  do  no  more, 
then,  than  state  the  fact  — most  interesting  from 
the  comparative  point  of  view  — that  the  earliest 
Buddhist  records  reveal  the  survival,  side  by  side 
with  more  or  less  powerful  monarchies,  of  republics 
with  either  complete  or  modified  independence. 

It  is  significant  that  this  important  factor  in  the 
social  condition  of  India  in  the  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries  B.  C.  has  remained  hitherto  unnoticed  by 
scholars  either  in  Europe  or  in  India.  They  have 
relied  for  their  information  about  the  Indian  peo- 
ples too  exclusively  on  the  brahmin  1 books.  And 
these,  partly  because  of  the  natural  antipathy  felt  by 
the  priests  towards  the  free  republics,  partly  because 
of  the  later  date  of  most  of  the  extant  priestly 
literature,  and  especially  of  the  law  books,  ignore  the 
real  facts.  They  convey  the  impression  that  the  only 
recognised,  and  in  fact  universally  prevalent,  form 
of  government  was  that  of  kings  under  the  guidance 
and  tutelage  of  priests.  But  the  Buddhist  records, 
amply  confirmed  in  these  respects  by  the  somewhat 
later  Jain  ones,  leave  no  doubt  upon  the  point. 

1 This  word,  always  pronounced,  and  till  lately  always  spelt,  in 
England,  with  an  i,  is  spelt  in  both  Sanskrit  and  Pali,  brahmana.  It 
seems  to  me  a pity  to  attempt  to  introduce  a spelling,  brahman , 
which  is  neither  English  nor  Indian. 


THE  KINGS 


3 


As  regards  the  monarchies,  the  four  referred  to 
above  as  then  of  importance  are  as  follows  : 

1.  The  kingdom  of  Magadha,  with  its  capital  at 
Rajagaha  (afterwards  at  Pataliputta),  reigned  over 
at  first  by  King  Bimbisara  and  afterwards  by  his  son 
Ajatasattu. 

2.  To  the  north-west  there  was  the  kingdom  of 
Kosala  — the  Northern  Kosala  — with  its  capital  at 
Savatthi,  ruled  over  at  first  by  King  Pasenadi  and 
afterwards  by  his  son  Viduclabha. 

3.  Southwards  from  Kosala  was  the  kingdom  of 
the  Vamsas  or  Vatsas,  with  their  capital  at  Kos- 
ambi  on  the  Jumna,  reigned  over  by  King  Udena, 
the  son  of  Parantapa. 

4.  And  still  farther  south  lay  the  kingdom  of 
Avanti,  with  its  capital  Ujjeni,  reigned  over  by 
King  Pajjota. 

The  royal  families  of  these  kingdoms  were  united 
by  matrimonial  alliances ; and  were  also,  not  seldom 
in  consequence  of  those  very  alliances,  from  time  to 
time  at  war.  Thus  Pasenadi’s  sister,  the  Kosala 
Devi,  was  the  wife  of  Bimbisara,  King  of  Magadha. 
When  Ajatasattu,  Bimbisara’s  son  by  another  wife 
(the  Videha  lady  from  Mithila),  put  his  father  Bim- 
bisara to  death,  the  Kosala  Devi  died  of  grief.  Pas- 
enadi then  confiscated  that  township  of  Kasi,  the 
revenues  of  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Kosala 
Devi  as  pin  money.  Angered  at  this,  Ajatasattu 
declared  war  against  his  aged  uncle.1  At  first  vic- 
tory inclined  to  Ajatasattu.  But  in  the  fourth  cam- 
paign he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  not  released  until 

1 Properly  “ brother  of  his  stepmother.” 


4 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


he  had  relinquished  his  claim.  Thereupon  Pasenadi 
not  only  gave  him  his  daughter  Vajira  in  marriage, 
but  actually  conferred  upon  her,  as  a wedding  gift, 
the  very  village  in  Kasi  in  dispute.  Three  years  after- 
wards Pasenadi’s  son  Vidudabha  revolted  against 
his  father,  who  was  then  at  Ulumba  in  the  Sakiya 
country.  The  latter  fled  to  Rajagaha  to  ask  Ajata- 
sattu  for  aid ; but  was  taken  ill  and  died  outside  the 
city  gates.'  We  shall  hear  farther  on  how  both 
Vidudabha,  and  his  brother-in-law  Ajatasattu,  were 
subsequently  in  conflict  with  the  adjoining  repub- 
lican confederacies,  the  former  with  the  Sakiyans,  the 
latter  with  the  Vajjians  of  Vesali. 

The  royal  families  of  Kosambi  and  Avanti  were 
also  united  by  marriage.  The  commentary  on  verses 
21-23  °f  the  Dhammapada  gives  a long  and  roman- 
tic story  of  the  way  in  which  Vasula-datta,  the 
daughter  of  King  Pajjota  of  Avanti,  became  the 
wife,  or  rather  one  of  the  three  wives,  of  King 
Udena  of  Kosambi.  The  legend  runs  that  Pajjota 
(whose  fierce  and  unscrupulous  character  is  there 
painted  in  terms  confirmed  by  one  of  our  oldest 
authorities2)  inquired  once  of  his  courtiers  whether 
there  was  any  king  whose  glory  was  greater  than  his 
own.  And  when  he  was  straightway  told  that 
Udena  of  Kosambi  surpassed  him,  he  at  once  de- 
termined to  attack  him.  Being  then  advised  that 
an  open  campaign  would  be  certainly  disastrous,  but 
that  an  ambush  — the  more  easy  as  Udena  would 
go  anywhere  to  capture  a fine  elephant  — might 

1 S.  1.  83  ; Jat.  2.  403,  4.  343  ; Avad.  Sat.  51. 

2 Maha  Vagga  of  the  Vi  it  ay  a,  viii.  1.  23,  and  following. 


THE  KINGS 


5 


succeed,  he  had  an  elephant  made  of  wood  and 
deftly  painted,  concealed  in  it  sixty  warriors,  set  it 
up  in  a defile  near  the  boundary,  and  had  Udena  in- 
formed by  spies  that  a glorious  elephant,  the  like  of 
which  had  never  been  seen,  was  to  be  found  in  the 
frontier  forest.  Udena  took  the  bait,  plunged  into 
the  defile  in  pursuit  of  the  prize,  became  separated 
from  his  retinue,  and  was  taken  prisoner. 

Now  Udena  knew  a charm  of  wonderful  power 
over  the  hearts  of  elephants.  Pajjota  offered  him 
his  life  and  freedom  if  he  would  tell  it. 

“Very  well,”  was  the  reply,  “ I will  teach  it  you 
if  you  pay  me  the  salutation  due  to  a teacher.” 

“ Pay  salutation  to  you  — never  ! ” 

“Then  neither  do  I tell  you  my  charm.” 

“ In  that  case  I must  order  you  to  execution.” 

“ Do  as  you  like ! Of  my  body  you  are  lord. 
But  not  of  my  mind.” 

Then  Pajjota  bethought  him  that  after  all  no 
one  else  knew  the  charm,  and  he  asked  Udena  if  he 
would  teach  it  to  someone  else  who  would  salute 
him.  And  being  answered  yes,  he  told  his  daugh- 
ter that  there  was  a dwarf  who  knew  a charm  ; that 
she  was  to  learn  it  of  that  dwarf ; and  then  tell  it  to 
him,  the  King.  And  to  Udena  he  said  that  a 
hunchback  woman  would  salute  him  from  behind  a 
curtain,  and  that  he  had  to  teach  her  the  charm, 
standing  the  while  himself  outside  the  curtain.  So 
cunning  was  the  King  to  bar  their  friendship.  But 
when  the  prisoner  day  after  day  rehearsed  the  charm, 
and  his  unseen  pupil  was  slow  to  catch  it  up  and  to 
repeat  it,  Udena  at  last  one  day  called  out  impa- 


6 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


tiently,  “ Say  it  so,  you  hunchback  ! How  thick 
lipped  you  must  be,  and  heavy  jawed  !” 

Then  she,  angered,  rejoined  : “ What  do  you  mean, 
you  wretched  dwarf,  to  call  such  as  I am  hunchback  ? ” 

And  he  pulled  the  corner  of  the  curtain  to  see, 
and  asked  her  who  she  was,  and  the  trick  was  dis- 
covered, and  he  went  inside,  and  there  was  no  more 
talk  that  day  of  learning  charms,  or  of  repeating 
lessons. 

And  they  laid  a counter-plot.  And  she  told  her 
father  that  a condition  precedent  to  the  right  learn- 
ing of  the  charm  was  the  possession  of  a certain 
potent  herb  picked  under  a certain  conjunction  of 
the  stars,  and  they  must  have  the  right  of  exit,  and 
the  use  of  his  famous  elephant.  And  her  wish  was 
granted.  Then  one  day,  when  her  father  was  away 
on  a pleasure  jaunt,  Udena  put  her  on  the  elephant, 
and  taking  also  money,  and  gold-dust  in  bags  of 
leather,  set  forth. 

But  men  told  Pajjota  the  King  ; and  he,  angry 
and  suspecting,  sent  a force  in  rapid  pursuit.  Then 
Udena  emptied  the  bag  of  coins.  And  the  pursuers 
waiting  to  gather  them  up,  the  fugitives  forged 
ahead.  When  the  pursuers  again  gained  on  them, 
Udena  let  loose  a bagful  of  gold-dust.  Again  the 
pursuers  delayed.  And  as  they  once  more  gained 
on  the  fugitives,  lo ! the  frontier  fortress,  and 
Udena’s  own  troops  coming  out  to  meet  their  lord! 
Then  the  pursuers  drew  back  ; and  Udena  and 
Vasula-datta  entered,  in  safety  and  in  triumph,  into 
the  city  ; and  with  due  pomp  and  ceremony  she 
was  anointed  as  his  Queen. 


THE  KINGS 


7 


So  far  the  legend  ; and  it  has  a familiar  sound  as 
if  echoes  of  two  of  our  classical  tales  had  been  con- 
fused in  India.  No  one  would  take  it  for  sober 
history.  It  is  probably  only  a famous  and  popular 
story  retold  of  well-known  characters.  And  when  a 
learned  scholar  summarises  it  thus:  “ Udena  eloped 
with  her  on  an  elephant,  leaving  behind  him  a bag 
full  of  gold  in  order  to  prevent  a prosecution”1  — 
we  see  how  easily  a very  slight  change  in  expression 
may,  in  retelling,  have  altered  the  very  gist  of  the 
tale.  But  it  is  sufficient  evidence  that,  when  the 
tradition  arose,  King  Pajjota  of  Avanti  and  King 
Udena  of  Kosambi  were  believed  to  have  been  con- 
temporary rulers  of  adjoining  kingdoms,  and  to 
have  been  connected  by  marriage  and  engaged  in 
war. 

We  hear  a good  deal  else  about  this  Udena,  King 
of  the  Vacchas  or  Vamsas  of  Kosambi.  Formerly,  in 
a fit  of  drunken  rage,  at  a picnic,  because  his  women 
folk  left  him,  when  he  was  sleeping,  to  listen  to  a re- 
ligious discourse  by  Pindola  (a  highly  respected  and 
famous  member  of  the  Buddhist  Order),  he  had  had 
Pindola  tortured  by  having  a nest  of  brown  ants  tied 
to  him.2  Long  afterwards  the  King  professed  him- 
self an  adherent  of  the  Buddha’s  in  consequence  of  a 
conversation  he  had  with  this  same  man  Pindola,  on 
the  subject  of  self-restraint.3  At  another  picnic  the 
women’s  pavilion  was  burnt,  with  his  Queen,  Sama- 
vatl,  and  many  cf  her  attendants.4  His  father’s  name 
was  Parantapa ; and  he  had  a son  named  Bodhi, 

1 J.  P.  T.  S 1888,  sub  voce.  SS.  4.  no. 

2 Jat.  4-  375-  4 Ud.  7.  10  = Divy,  533. 


8 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


after  whom  one  of  the  Suttantasis  named  1 and  con- 
cerning whom  other  details  are  given.2  But  Udena 
survived  the  Buddha,3  and  we  are  not  informed 
whether  Bodhi  did,  or  did  not,  succeed  him  on  the 
throne. 

Pasenadi,  the  King  of  Kosala,  is  described  as  a 
very  different  character.  The  whole  of  the  Third 
Samyutta,  consisting  of  twenty-five  anecdotes,  each 
with  a moral  bias,  is  devoted  to  him.  And  there  are 
about  an  equal  number  of  references  to  him  in  other 
parts  of  the  literature.  Educated  at  the  celebrated 
seat  of  learning,  Takkasila,  in  the  extreme  north- 
west, he  was  placed,  on  his  return,  by  his  father, 
Maha  Kosala,  upon  the  throne.4  As  a sovereign  he 
showed  himself  zealous  in  his  administrative  duties, 
and  addicted  to  the  companionship  of  the  good.6 
And  he  extended  his  favour,  in  full  accord  with  the 
well-known  Indian  toleration,  to  the  religious  of  all 
schools  of  thought  alike.6  This  liberality  of  thought 
and  conduct  was  only  strengthened  when,  early  in 
the  new  movement,  he  proclaimed  himself  an  adhe- 
rent, in  a special  sense,  of  the  Buddha’s.7  This  was 
in  consequence  of  a talk  he  had  had  with  the  Buddha 
himself.  The  King  had  asked  him  how  he,  being  so 
young,  as  compared  with  other  already  well-known 
teachers,  could  claim  an  insight  beyond  theirs.  The 
reply  simply  was  that  no  “ religieux  ” should  be  de- 
spised because  of  his  youth.  Who  would  show  dis- 
respect to  a prince,  or  to  a venomous  serpent,  or  to 

1 M.  No.  85.  2 Vin.  2.  127,  4-  198,  199  ; Jat.  3.  157. 

3 P.  V.  A.  141.  4 Dhp.  A.  2x1.  5 S.  1.  83. 

6 D.  87  ; Ud.  2.  6 ; S.  1.  75-  7 S.  1.  70. 


FlG.  I — KING  PASENADI  IN  HIS  CHARIOT.  ABOVE  IS  THE  WHEEL 
OF  THE  LAW. 

[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xiii.] 

9 


lii 


IO 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


a fire,  merely  because  it  was  young?  It  was  the  na- 
ture of  the  doctrine,  not  the  personal  pecularities  of 
the  teacher,  that  was  the  test. 

Sumana,  the  King’s  aunt,  sister  of  his  father,  Maha 
Kosala,  was  present  at  this  conversation,  and  made 
up  her  mind  to  enter  the  Order,  but  delayed  doing 
so  in  order  to  nurse  an  aged  relative.  The  delay 
was  long.  But  on  the  death  of  the  old  lady,  Sumana, 
then  old  herself,  did  enter  the  Order,  and  became  an 
Arahat,  and  is  one  of  the  Buddhist  ladies  whose 
poems  are  preserved  in  the  Therl  Gatha.  The  aged 
relative  was  Pasenadi’s  grandmother;  so  that  we 
have  four  generations  of  this  family  brought  before 
us.' 

A comparison  between  Dlgha  I.  87  and  Divyava- 
dana  620 — where  the  same  action  is  attributed  in  the 
older  book  to  King  Pasenadi  and  in  the  younger  to 
King  Agnidatta — makes  it  highly  probable  that 
Pasenadi  (used  as  a designation  for  several  kings) 
is  in  reality  an  official  epithet,  and  that  the  King’s 
real  personal  name  was  Agnidatta. 

Among  the  subjects  chosen  for  the  bas-reliefs  on 
the  Bharahat  tope,  in  the  third  century  B.C.,  is  one 
representing  Pasenadi  issuing  forth  on  his  chariot, 
drawn  by  four  horses  with  their  tails  and  manes 
elaborately  plaited,  and  attended  by  three  servants. 
Above  him  is  figured  the  Wheel  of  the  Law,  the 
symbol  of  the  new  teaching  of  which  the  King  of 
Kosala  was  so  devoted  a supporter. 

It  is  stated  that  is  was  from  the  desire  to  associate 
himself  by  marriage  with  the  Buddha’s  family  that 
1 Thag.  A.  22  ; comp.  S.  1.  97  ; Vin.  2.  169  ; Jat.  4.  146. 


THE  KINGS 


II 


Pasenadi  asked  for  one  of  the  daughters  of  the 
Sakiya  chiefs  as  his  wife.  The  Sakiyas  discussed  the 
proposition  in  their  Mote  Hall,  and  held  it  beneath 
the  dignity  of  their  clan.  But  they  sent  him  a girl 
named  Vasabha  Khattiya,  the  daughter,  by  a slave 
girl,  of  one  of  their  leading  chiefs.  By  her  Pasenadi 
had  the  son,  Vidudabha,  mentioned  above.  And  it 
was  in  consequence  of  the  anger  kindled  in  Vidu- 
dabha’s  heart  at  the  discovery  of  the  fraud  that,  hav- 
ing determined  to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  Sakiyas, 
he,  on  coming  to  the  throne,  invaded  their  country, 
took  their  city,  and  put  to  death  a great  number  of 
the  members  of  the  clan,  without  distinction  of  age 
or  sex.  The  details  of  the  story  have  not  been 
found  as  yet  in  our  oldest  records.1  But  the  main 
circumstance  of  the  war  against  the  clan  is  very  early 
alluded  to,  and  is  no  doubt  a historical  fact.  It  is 
said  to  have  preceded  only  by  a year  or  two  the 
death  of  the  Buddha  himself. 

The  beginning  of  this  story,  on  the  other  hand, 
seems  very  forced.  Would  a family  of  patricians  in 
one  of  the  Greek  republics  have  considered  a mar- 
riage of  one  of  their  daughters  to  a neighbouring 
tyrant  beneath  their  dignity  ? And  in  the  present 
case  the  tyrant  in  question  was  the  acknowledged 
suzerain  of  the  clan.3  The  Sakiyas  may  have  con- 
sidered the  royal  family  of  Kosala  of  inferior  birth 
to  themselves.  There  is  mention,  in  several  pass- 
ages, of  the  pride  of  the  Sakiyas.3  But,  even  so, 

1 But  see  Dhp.  A.  216,  foil.  ; Jat.  4.  145,  foil. 

2 Pabbajja  Sutta,  verse  18  (S.  N.  122). 

3 For  instance,  D.  1.  90,  91  ; Vin.  2.  183  ; J.  1.  889,  4.  145. 


12 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


we  cannot  see,  in  the  present  state  of  our  know- 
ledge, why  they  should  object.  We  know  that  the 
daughter  of  one  of  the  chiefs  of  a neighbouring 
clan,  equally  free  and  equally  proud,  the  Liccha- 
vis  of  Vesali,  was  married  to  Bimbisara,  king  of 
Magadha.1  It  is,  furthermore,  almost  certain  that 
the  royal  family  at  Savatthi  was  simply  one  of 
the  patrician  families  who  had  managed  to  secure 
hereditary  consulship  in  the  Kosala  clan.  For  the 
chiefs  among  the  Kosalas,  apart  from  the  royal 
family,  and  even  the  ordinary  clansmen  (the  kula- 
putta),  are  designated  by  the  very  term  ( rdjd.no , 
kings),  which  is  applied  to  the  chiefs  and  clansmen 
of  those  tribes  which  had  still  remained  aristocratic 
republics.2  And  it  is  precisely  in  a very  natural  tend- 
ency to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  the  families  of 
their  respective  founders  that  the  later  records,  both 
of  the  Jains  and  of  the  Buddhists,  differ  from  the 
earlier  ones.  It  is  scarcely  probable,  therefore,  that 
the  actual  originating  cause  of  Vidudabha’s  invasion 
of  the  Sakiya  territory  was  exactly  as  set  out  above. 
He  may  have  used  the  arrogance  of  the  Sakiyas,  per- 
haps, as  a pretext.  But  the  real  reasons  which  in- 
duced Vidudabha  to  attack  and  conquer  his  relatives, 
the  Sakiyas,  were,  most  likely,  the  same  sort  of  po- 
litical motives  which  later  on  induced  his  cousin, 
Ajatasattu  of  Magadha,  to  attack  and  conquer  his 
relatives,  the  Licchavis  of  Vesali. 

We  hear  already  of  Ajatasattu’s  intention  to  at- 
tack them  in  the  opening  sections  of  the  Book  of 

1 See  the  genealogical  table  in  Jacobi's  Jaina  Sutras , i,  xv. 

2 Sum.  239. 


THE  KINGS 


13 


the  Great  Decease ,'  and  the  Buddha  is  represented  2 
as  making  the  not  very  difficult  forecast  that  event- 
ually, when  the  Licchavis  had  been  weakened  by 
luxury,  he  would  be  able  to  carry  out  this  inten- 
tion. But  it  was  not  till  more  than  three  years 
afterwards  that,  having  succeeded,  by  the  treachery 
of  the  brahmin  Vassakara,  in  sowing  dissension 
among  the  leading  families  of  Vesali,  he  swooped 
down  upon  the  place  with  an  overwhelming  force, 
and  completely  destroyed  it. 

We  are  also  told  that  Ajatasattu  fortified  his 
capital,  Rajagaha,  in  expectation  of  an  attack  about 
to  be  made  by  King  Pajjota  of  Ujjeni.3  It  would 
be  most  interesting  to  know  whether  the  attack  was 
ever  made,  and  what  measure  of  success  it  had.  We 
know  that  afterwards,  in  the  fourth  century  B.C., 
Ujjeni  had  become  subject  to  Magadha,  and  that 
Asoka,  when  a young  man,  was  appointed  governor 
of  Ujjeni.  But  we  know  nothing  else  of  the  inter- 
mediate stages  which  led  to  this  result. 

About  nine  or  ten  years  before  the  Buddha’s 
death,  Devadatta,  his  first  cousin,  who  had  long  pre- 
viously joined  the  Order,  created  a schism  in  the 
community.  We  hear  of  Ajatasattu,  then  the  Crown 
Prince,  as  the  principal  supporter  of  this  Devadatta, 
the  quondam  disciple  and  bitter  foe  of  the  Buddha, 
who  is  the  Judas  Iscariot  of  the  Buddhist  story.4 


' Translated  in  my  Buddhist  Suttas.  The  name  there  is  Vajjians. 
But  that  the  Licchavis  were  a sub-clan  of  the  Vajjians  is  clear  from 

A.  4.  16. 

2 S.  2.  268.  6 M.  3.  7. 

4 S.  2.  242;  Vinaya  Texts , 3.  238-265  ; Sum.  13S,  etc. 


14  BUDDHIST  INDIA 

About  the  same  time  Bimbisara,  the  King,  handed 
over  the  reins  of  government  to  the  Prince.  But  it 


Fig.  2. — AJATASATTU  STARTING  OUT  TO  VISIT  THE  BUDDHA. 

was  not  long  before  Devadatta  incited  him,  in  order 
to  make  quite  sure,  to  slay  the  King.  And  Ajata- 
sattu  carried  out  this  idea  in  the  eighth  year  before 


THE  KINGS 


15 


the  Buddha’s  death,  by  starving  his  father  slowly  to 
death. 

Once,  subsequently,  when  remorse  had  fastened 
upon  him,  we  hear  of  his  going,  with  a great  retinue, 
to  the  Buddha  and  inquiring  of  him  what  were  the 
fruits,  visible  in  this  present  life,  of  becoming  a mem- 
ber of  a religious  order.1  An  illustration  of  the  King 
saluting  the  Buddha  on  this  occasion  is  the  subject 
of  one  of  the  bas-reliefs  on  the  Bharhut  Tope.2  As 
usual  the  Buddha  himself  is  not  delineated.  Only 
his  footprints  are  shown. 

At  the  close  of  the  discourse  the  King  is  stated  to 
have  openly  taken  the  Buddha  as  his  guide  in  future, 
and  to  have  given  expression  to  the  remorse  he  felt 
at  the  murder  of  his  father.  But  it  is  also  distinctly 
stated  that  he  was  not  converted.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  really,  after  the  moment  when  his 
heart  was  touched,  continued  to  follow  the  Buddha’s 
teaching.  He  never,  so  far  as  we  know,  waited  again 
either  upon  the  Buddha,  or  upon  any  member  of 
the  Order,  to  discuss  ethical  matters.  And  we  hear 
of  no  material  support  given  by  him  to  the  Order 
during  the  Buddha’s  lifetime. 

We  are  told,  however,  that,  after  the  Buddha’s 
death,  he  asked  (on  the  ground  that  he,  like  the 
Buddha,  was  a Kshatriya)  for  a portion  of  the  relics  ; 
that  he  obtained  them  ; and  built  a stupa  or  burial- 
mound  over  them.3  And  though  the  oldest  au- 

1 The  famous  Suttanta,  in  which  this  conversation  is  set  out, — the 
Samanna  Phala,  — is  translated  in  full  in  my  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha. 

2 Cunningham,  Stupa  of  Bharhut.  PI.  xvi.,  Fig.  3. 

3 Book  of  the  Great  Decease , chap.  vi. 


i6 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


thority  says  nothing  about  it,  younger  works  state 
that  on  the  convocation  of  the  First  Council  at 
Rajagaha,  shortly  after  the  decease,  it  was  the 
King  who  provided  and  prepared  the  hall  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Sattapanni  cave,  where  the  rehearsal 
of  the  doctrine  took  place.1  He  may  well  have 
thus  showed  favour  to  the  Buddhists  without  at 
all  belonging  to  their  party.  He  would  only,  in  so 
doing,  be  following  the  usual  habit  so  character- 
istic of  Indian  monarchs,  of  patronage  towards  all 
schools. 

Mention  is  made  occasionally  and  incidentally  of 
other  kings  — such  as  Avanti-putta,  King  of  the 
Surasenas;2  and  the  Eleyya  of  A.  2.  1 88,  who,  to- 
gether with  his  courtiers,  was  a follower  and  supporter 
of  Uddaka,  the  son  and  pupil  of  Rama,  and  the 
teacher  of  Gotama.  But  the  above  four  are  the  only 
ones  of  whom  we  have  accounts  in  any  detail. 

1 See,  for  instance,  M.  B.  V.  89. 

2 M.  2.  S3. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 

IT  is  much  the  same  with  the  clans.  We  have  a 
good  deal  of  information,  which  is,  however, 
at  the  best  only  fragmentary,  about  three  or  four 
of  them.  Of  the  rest  we  have  little  more  than  the 
bare  names. 

More  details  are  given,  very  naturally,  of  the 
Sakiya  clan  than  of  the  others.  The  general  posi- 
tion of  their  country  is  intimated  by  the  distances 
given  from  other  places.1  It  must  have  been  just 
on  the  border  of  Nepalese  and  English  territory, 
as  is  now  finally  settled  by  the  recent  discoveries 
of  the  tope  or  burial-mound  put  up  by  the  Sakiyas 
over  the  portion  they  retained  of  the  relics  from 
the  Buddha’s  funeral  pyre,  and  of  Asoka’s  inscrip- 
tion, in  situ , recording  his  visit  to  the  Lumbini 
garden  in  which  the  Buddha  was  born.2  Which 
of  the  numerous  ruins  in  the  immediate  vicinity 

1 60  yojanas  = 450  miles,  from  Rajagaha  ; 50  yojanas  = 375  miles, 
from  Vesali  ; 6 or  7 yojanas  = 50  or  60  miles,  from  Savatthi  ; and 
so  on.  Compare  the  passages  quoted  in  Rh.  D.,  Ancient  Coins  and 
Measures  of  Ceylon , p.  16. 

2 J.  R.  A . S.  1897,  618,  and  1S98,  588. 


17 


i8 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  these  discoveries  are  those  of  Kapilavastu,  the 
chief  town  of  the  clan,  and  which  are  the  remains 
of  the  other  townships  belonging  to  them,  will  be 
one  of  the  questions  to  be  solved  by  future  ex- 
ploration.1 Names  of  such  townships  mentioned 
in  the  most  ancient  texts  are  Catuma,  Samagama, 
Khomadussa,  Silavatl,  Metalupa,  Ulumpa,  Sakkara, 
and  Devadaha. 

It  was  at  the  last-mentioned  place  that  the 
mother  of  the  Buddha  was  born.  And  the  name 
of  her  father  is  expressly  given  as  Anjana  the 
Sakiyan.2  When,  therefore,  we  find  in  much  later 
records  the  statements  that  she  was  of  Koliyan 
family;  and  that  Prince  Devadaha,  after  whom 
the  town  was  so  named,  was  a Koliyan  chief,  the 
explanation  may  well  be  that  the  Koliyans  were 
a sort  of  subordinate  subdivision  of  the  Sakiya  clan. 

The  existence  of  so  considerable  a number  of 
market  towns  implies,  in  an  agricultural  community, 
a rather  extensive  territory.  Buddhaghosa  has  pre- 
served for  us  an  old  tradition  that  the  Buddha  had 
eighty  thousand  families  of  relatives  on  the  father’s 
side  and  the  same  on  the  mother’s  side,3  Allow- 
ing six  or  seven  to  a family,  including  the  depend- 
ents, this  would  make  a total  of  about  a million 
persons  in  the  Sakiya  territory.  And  though  the 
figure  is  purely  traditional,  and  at  best  a round 

1 The  old  Kapilavastu  was  probably  at  Tilaiira  Kot.  But  Mr. 
Peppe’s  important  discoveries  at  the  Sakiya  Tope  may  be  on  the 
site  of  a new  Kapilavastu,  built  after  the  old  city  was  destroyed  by 
Vidudabha  (see  above,  p.  u). 

2Apadana,  quoted  in  Therig.  Cy.  p.  152. 

3 See  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , i.  147,  note. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


l9 


number  (and  not  uninfluenced  by  the  mystic  value 
attached  to  it),  it  is,  perhaps,  not  so  very  far  from 
what  we  might  expect. 

The  administrative  and  judicial  business  of  the  clan 
was  carried  out  in  public  assembly,  at  which  young 
and  old  were  alike  present,  in  their  common  Mote  Hall 
( santhagara ) at  Kapilavastu.  It  was  at  such  a parlia- 
ment, or  palaver,  that  King  Pasenadi’s  proposition 
(above,  p.  n)  was  discussed.  When  Ambattha  goes 
to  Kapilavastu  on  business,  he  goes  to  the  Mote  Hall 
where  the  Sakiyas  were  then  in  session.'  And  it 
is  to  the  Mote  Hall  of  the  Mallas  that  Ananda  goes 
to  announce  the  death  of  the  Buddha,  they  being 
then  in  session  there  to  consider  that  very  matter.3 

A single  chief — how,  and  for  what  period  chosen, 
we  do  not  know — was  elected  as  office-holder,  presid- 
ing over  the  sessions,  and,  if  no  sessions  were  sitting, 
over  the  State.  He  bore  the  title  of  raja , which 
must  have  meant  something  like  the  Roman  consul, 
or  the  Greek  archon.  We  hear  nowhere  of  such  a 
triumvirate  as  bore  corresponding  office  among  the 
Licchavis,  nor  of  such  acts  of  kingly  sovereignty  as 
are  ascribed  to  the  real  kings  mentioned  above.  But 
we  hear  at  one  time  3 that  Bhaddiya,  a young  cousin 
of  the  Buddha’s,  was  the  raja;  and  in  another  pass- 
age, Suddhodana,  the  Buddha’s  father  (who  is  else- 
where spoken  of  as  a simple  citizen,  Suddhodana  the 
Sakiyan),  is  called  the  raja. 

A new  Mote  Hall,  built  at  Kapilavastu,  was 

1 Ambattha  Suttanta,  translated  in  my  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 

i.  113. 


M.  P.  S.  6.  23. 


3 Vin.  2.  181. 


20 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


finished  whilst  the  Buddha  was  staying  at  the 
Nigrodharama  (the  pleasaunce  under  the  Banyan 
Grove)  in  the  Great  Wood  (the  Mahavana)  near  by. 
There  was  a residence  there,  provided  by  the  com- 
munity, for  recluses  of  all  schools.  Gotama  was 
asked  to  inaugurate  the  new  hall,  and  he  did  so  by  a 
series  of  ethical  discourses,  lasting  through  the  night, 
delivered  by  himself,  Ananda,  and  Moggallana. 
They  are  preserved  for  us  in  full  at  M.  i.  353,  foil., 
and  S.  4.  182,  foil. 

Besides  this  Mote  Hall  at  the  principal  town  we 
hear  of  others  at  some  of  the  other  towns  above 
referred  to.  And  no  doubt  all  the  more  important 
places  had  such  a hall,  or  pavilion,  covered  with  a 
roof,  but  with  no  walls,  in  which  to  conduct  their 
business.  And  the  local  affairs  of  each  village  were 
carried  on  in  open  assembly  of  the  householders,  held 
in  the  groves  which,  then  as  now,  formed  so  distinctive 
a feature  of  each  village  in  the  long  and  level  alluvial 
plain.  It  was  no  doubt  in  this  plain,  stretching  about 
fifty  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  thirty  or  forty  miles 
to  the  southward  from  the  foot  of  Himalaya  Hills, 
that  the  majority  of  the  clan  were  resident. 

The  clan  subsisted  on  the  produce  of  their  rice- 
fields  and  their  cattle.  The  villages  were  grouped 
round  the  rice-fields,  and  the  cattle  wandered  through 
the  outlying  forest,  over  which  the  peasantry,  all 
Sakiyas  by  birth,  had  rights  of  common.  There  were 
artisans,  probably  not  Sakiyas,  in  each  village  ; and 
men  of  certain  special  trades  of  a higher  standing; 
the  carpenters,  smiths,  and  potters  for  instance,  had 
villages  of  their  own.  So  also  had  the  brahmins, 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


21 


whose  services  were  in  request  at  every  domestic 
event.  Khomadussa,  for  instance,  was  a brahmin 
settlement.  There  were  a few  shops  in  the  bazaars, 
but  we  do  not  hear  of  any  merchants  and  bankers 
such  as  are  mentioned  as  dwelling  at  the  great  capi- 
tals of  the  adjoining  kingdoms.  The  villages  were 
separated  one  from  another  by  forest  jungle,  the 
remains  of  the  Great  Wood  (the  Maha  Vana),  por- 
tions of  which  are  so  frequently  mentioned  as  still 
surviving  throughout  the  clanships,  and  which  must 
originally  (not  so  very  long,  probably,  before  the 
time  under  discussion)  have  stretched  over  practically 
the  whole  level  country  between  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  and  the  Great  River,  the  Ganges.  After 
the  destruction  of  the  clans  by  the  neighbouring 
monarchies  this  jungle  again  spread  over  the  country. 
From  the  fourth  century  onwards,  down  to  our  own 
days,  the  forest  covered  over  the  remains  of  the 
ancient  civilisation. 

This  jungle  was  infested  from  time  to  time  by 
robbers,  sometimes  runaway  slaves.1  But  we  hear 
of  no  crime,  and  there  was  not  probably  very  much, 
in  the  villages  themselves — each  of  them  a tiny  self- 
governed  republic.  The  Koliyan  central  authorities 
were  served  by  a special  body  of  peons,  or  police, 
distinguished,  as  by  a kind  of  uniform,  from  which 
they  took  their  name,  by  a special  headdress.  These 
particular  men  had  a bad  reputation  for  extortion 
and  violence.2  The  Mallas  had  similar  officials,3  and 
it  is  not  improbable  that  each  of  the  clans  had  a some- 
what similar  set  of  subordinate  servants. 

1 Vin.  4.  81.  2 S.  4.  341.  3 D.  2.  159,  i6r. 


22 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


A late  tradition  tells  us  how  the  criminal  law  was 
administered  in  the  adjoining  powerful  confederate 
clan  of  the  Vajjians,  by  a succession  of  regularly 
appointed  officers, — “Justices,  lawyers,  rehearsers  of 
the  law-maxims,  the  council  of  representatives  of  the 
eight  clans,  the  general,  the  vice-consul,  and  the 
consul  himself.”  Each  of  these  could  acquit  the  ac- 
cused. But  if  they  considered  him  guilty,  each  had 
to  refer  the  case  to  the  next  in  order  above  them, 
the  consul  finally  awarding  the  penalty  according  to 
the  Book  of  Precedents.  We  hear  of  no  such  inter- 
mediate officials  in  the  smaller  clans;  and  even 
among  the  Vajjians  (who,  by  the  by,  are  all  called 
“ rajas  ” in  this  passage),  it  is  not  likely  that  so  com- 
plicated a procedure  was  actually  followed.1  But  a 
book  of  legal  precedents  is  referred  to  elsewhere,2  and 
tables  of  the  law  also.3  It  is  therefore  not  im- 
probable that  written  notes  on  the  subject  were  ac- 
tually in  use. 

The  names  of  other  clans,  besides  the  Sakiyas,  are: 

2.  The  Bhaggas  of  Sumsumara  Hill. 

3.  The  Bulis  of  Allakappa. 

4.  Kalamas  of  Kesaputta. 

5.  The  Koliyas  of  Rama-gama. 

6.  The  Mallas  of  Kusinara. 

7.  The  Mallas  of  Pava. 

8.  The  Moriyas  of  Pipphalivana. 

9.  The  Videhas  of  Mithila. 

10.  The  Licchavis  of  Vesali. 


= The  Vajjians. 


'James  Alwis,  Introduction  to  Pali  Grajnmar,  p.  99;  and  Geo. 
Tumour,  J.B.A.S.  vii.  991. 

2 Jat.  3.  292. 


Jat.  5.  125. 


THE  C/.ANS  AND  NATIONS 


23 


There  are  several  other  names  of  tribes  of  which 
it  is  not  yet  known  whether  they  were  clans  or  under 
monarchical  government.  We  have  only  one  in- 
stance of  any  tribe,  once  under  a monarchy,  revert- 
ing to  the  independent  state.  And  whenever  the 
supreme  power  in  a clan  became  hereditary,  the 
result  seems  always  to  have  been  an  absolute  mon- 
archy, without  legal  limitations  of  any  kind. 


The  political  divisions  of  India  at  or  shortly  be- 
fore the  time  when  Buddhism  arose  are  well 
exemplified  by  the  stock  list  of  the  Sixteen  Great 
Countries,  the  Sixteen  Powers,  which  is  found  in 
several  places  in  the  books.1 2  It  is  interesting  to  no- 
tice that  the  names  are  names,  not  of  countries,  but 
of  peoples,  as  we  might  say  Italians  or  Turks.  This 
shows  that  the  main  idea  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
drew  up,  or  used,  this  old  list  was  still  tribal  and  not 
geographical.  The  list  is  as  follows  : 


1.  Anga 

2.  Magadha 

3.  KasI 

4.  Kosala 

5.  Vajjl 

6.  Malla 

7.  Cetl 

8.  Varnsa 


9.  Kuru 

10.  Pancala 

11.  Maccha 

12.  Surasena 

1 3.  Assaka 

14.  Avantl 

15.  Gandhara 

16.  Kamboja 


I.  The  Angas  dwelt  in  the  country  to  the  east  of 
Magadha,  having  their  capital  at  Champa,  near  the 

1 E.  g.,  Anguttara,  1.  213;  4.  252,  256,  260;  Vinaya  Texts, 

2.  146. 


24 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


modern  Bhagalpur.  Its  boundaries  are  unknown. 
In  the  Buddha’s  time  it  was  subject  to  Magadha, 
and  we  never  hear  of  its  having  regained  independ- 
ence. But  in  former  times 1 it  was  independent, 
and  there  are  traditions  of  wars  between  these 
neighbouring  countries.  The  Anga  raja  in  the 
Buddha's  time  was  simply  a wealthy  nobleman,  and 
we  only  know  of  him  as  the  grantor  of  a pension  to 
a particular  brahmin.2 

2.  The  Magadhas,  as  is  well  known,  occupied  the 
district  now  called  Behar.  It  was  probably  then 
bounded  to  the  north  by  the  Ganges,  to  the  east  by 
the  river  Champa,  on  the  south  by  the  Vindhya 
Mountains,  and  on  the  west  by  the  river  Sona.  In 
the  Buddha’s  time  (that  is,  inclusive  of  Anga)  it  is 
said  to  have  had  eighty  thousand  villages3  and  to 
have  been  three  hundred  leagues  (about  twenty- 
three  hundred  miles)  in  circumference.4 

3.  The  Kasis  are  of  course  the  people  settled  in 
the  district  round  Benares.  In  the  time  of  the 
Buddha  this  famous  old  kingdom  of  the  Bharatas 
had  fallen  to  so  low  a political  level  that  the 
revenues  of  the  township  had  become  a bone  of  con- 
tension  between  Kosala  and  Magadha,  and  the 
kingdom  itself  was  incorporated  into  Kosala.  Its 
mention  in  this  list  is  historically  important,  as  we 
must  conclude  that  the  memory  of  it  as  an  independ- 
ent state  was  still  fresh  in  men's  minds.  This  is 
confirmed  by  the  very  frequent  mention  of  it  as  such 
in  the  Jatakas,  where  it  is  said  to  have  been  over  two 

1 J.  v.  316,  vi.  271.  3 Vin.  i.  179. 

J M.  2.  163.  4 Sum.  148. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NA  T10NS 


25 


thousand  miles  in  circuit.1  But  it  never  regained  in- 
dependence ; and  its  boundaries  are  unknown. 

4.  The  Kosalas  were  the  ruling  clan  in  the  kingdom 
whose  capital  was  Savatthi,  in  what  is  now  Nepal,  sev- 
enty miles  north-west  of  the  modern  Gorakhpur. 
It  included  Benares  and  Saketa ; and  probably  had 
the  Ganges  for  its  southern  boundary,  the  Gandhak 
for  its  eastern  boundary,  and  the  mountains  for  its 
northern  boundary.  The  Sakiyas  already  acknow- 
ledged, in  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  the  suzerainty  of 
Kosala. 

It  was  the  rapid  rise  of  this  kingdom  of  Kosala, 
and  the  inevitable  struggle  in  the  immediate  future 
between  it  and  Magadha,  which  was  the  leading 
point  in  the  politics  of  the  Buddha’s  time.  These 
hardy  mountaineers  had  swept  into  their  net  all  the 
tribes  between  the  mountains  and  the  Ganges. 
Their  progress  was  arrested  on  the  east  by  the  free 
clans.  And  the  struggle  between  Kosala  and 
Magadha  for  the  paramount  power  in  all  India  was, 
in  fact,  probably  decided  when  the  powerful  con- 
federation of  the  Licchavis  became  arrayed  on  the 
side  of  Magadha.  Several  successful  invasions  of 
KasI  by  the  Kosalans  under  their  kings,  Vanka, 
Dabbasena,  and  Kamsa,  are  referred  to  a date  before 
the  Buddha’s  time.  And  the  final  conquest  would 
seem  to  be  ascribed  to  Kamsa,  as  the  epithet  “Con- 
queror of  Benares”  is  a standing  addition  to  his 
name.’ 

5.  The  Vajjians  included  eight  confederate  clans, 

‘Jat.  4.  442,  5.  41. 

2 Vin.  1.  342;  Jat.  1.  262,  2.  403,  3.  13,  168,  2ll,  5.  1 12. 


26 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  whom  the  Licchavis  and  the  Videhans  were  the 
most  important.  It  is  very  interesting  to  notice 
that  while  tradition  makes  Videha  a kingdom  in 
earlier  times,  it  describes  it  in  the  Buddha’s  time 
as  a republic.  Its  size,  as  a separate  kingdom,  is 
said  to  have  been  three  hundred  leagues  (about 
twenty-three  hundred  miles)  in  circumference.1  Its 
capital,  Mithila,  was  about  thirty-five  miles  north-west 
from  Vesali,  the  capital  of  the  Licchavis.  There  it 
was  that  the  great  King  Janaka  ruled  a little  while 
before  the  rise  of  Buddhism.2  And  it  is  probable 
that  the  modern  town  of  Janak-pur  preserves  in  its 
name  a memory  of  this  famous  rajput  scholar  and 
philosopher  of  olden  time. 

6.  The  Mallas  of  Kusinara  and  Pava  were  also 
independent  clans,  whose  territory,  if  we  may  trust 
the  Chinese  pilgrims,  was  on  the  mountain  slopes  to 
the  east  of  the  Sakiya  land,  and  to  the  north  of  the 
Vajjian  confederation.  But  some  would  place  it 
south  of  the  Sakiyas  and  east  of  the  Vajjians. 

7.  The  Cetis  were  probably  the  same  tribe  as 
that  called  Cedi  in  older  documents,  and  had  two 
distinct  settlements.  One,  probably  the  older,  was 
in  the  mountains,  in  what  is  now  called  Nepal.3  The 
other,  probably  a later  colony,  was  near  Kosambi 
to  the  east 4 and  has  been  even  confused  with  the 
land  of  the  Vamsa,  from  which  this  list  makes  them 
distinct.5 

1 Jat.  3.  365.  4-  316. 

2 Satap.  Brah.  xi.  6.  2,  1,  etc.;  Jat.  6.  30-68,  etc. 

3Jat.  5.  514,  51S. 

4Vin.  1.  108;  Jat.  1.  360;  Divy.  184-191. 

5 Baden-rowell  in  the  y.  R.  A.  S.,  1898,  p.  32 1. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


2 7 


8.  Vatpsa  is  the  country  of  the  Vacchas,  of  which 
Kosambi,  properly  only  the  name  of  the  capital,  is 
the  more-  familiar  name.  It  lav  immediately  to  the 
north  of  Avanti,  and  along  the  banks  of  the  Jumna. 

9.  The  Kurus  occupied  the  country  of  which  In- 
draprastha,  close  to  the  modern  Delhi,  was  the 
capital ; and  had  the  Panchalas  to  the  east,  and  the 
Matsyas  to  the  south.  Tradition  gives  the  kingdom 
a circumference  of  two  thousand  miles.1  They  had 
very  little  political  importance  in  the  Buddha’s  time. 
It  was  at  Kammassa-dhamma  in  the  Kuru  country 
that  several  of  the  most  important  Suttantas — the 
Maha  Satipatthana,  for  instance,  and  the  Maha 
Nidana— were  delivered.  And  Ratthapala  was  a 
Kuru  noble.2 

10.  The  two  Pancalas  occupied  the  country  to  the 
east  of  the  Kurus,  between  the  mountains  and  the 
Ganges.  Their  capitals  were  Kampilla  and  Kanoj. 

11.  The  Macchas,  or  Matsyas,  were  to  the  south 
of  the  Kurus  and  west  of  the  Jumna,  which  sepa- 
rated them  from  the  Southern  Pancalas. 

12.  The  Surasenas,  whose  capital  was  Madhura, 
were  immediately  south-west  of  the  Macchas,  and 
west  of  the  Jumna. 

13.  The  Assakas  had,  in  the  Buddha’s  time,  a 
settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Godhavari.3  Their 
capital  was  Potana,  or  Potali.4  The  country  is  men- 
tioned with  Avanti  in  the  same  way  as  Anga  is 
with  Magadha,0  and  its  position  on  this  list,  between 
Surasena  and  Avanti,  makes  it  probable  that,  when 

3S.  N.  977. 
5Jat.  5.  319. 


Jat.  5.  57,  484.  2 M.  2.  55. 

4Jat.  3.  3 ; D.  2.  235. 


28 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  list  was  drawn  up,  its  position  was  immediately 
north-west  of  Avanti.  In  that  case  the  settlement 
on  the  Godhavari  was  a later  colony  ; and  this  is 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  there  is  no  mention  of 
Potana  (or  Potali)  there.  The  name  of  the  tribe  is 
also  ambiguous.  Sanskrit  authors  speak  both  of 
Asmaka  and  of  Asvaka.  Each  of  these  would  be 
Assaka,  both  in  the  local  vernacular  and  in  Pali. 
And  either  there  were  two  distinct  tribes  so  called, 
or  the  Sanskrit  form  Asvaka  is  a wrong  reading, 
or  a blunder  in  the  Sanskritisation  of  Assaka. 

14.  Avanti,  the  capital  of  which  was  Ujjeni,  was 
ruled  over  by  King  Canda  Pajjota  (Pajjota  the 
Fierce)  referred  to  above.  The  country,  much  of 
which  is  rich  land,  had  been  colonised  or  conquered 
by  Aryan  tribes  who  came  down  the  Indian  valley, 
and  turned  west  from  the  Gulf  of  Kach.  It  was 
called  Avanti  at  least  as  late  as  the  second  century 
A.D.,1  but  from  the  seventh  or  eighth  century  on- 
wards it  was  called  Malava. 

15.  Gandhara,  modern  Kandahar,  was  the  district 
of  Eastern  Afghanistan,  and  it  probably  included 
the  north-west  of  the  Panjab.  Its  capital  was  Tak- 
kasila.  The  King  of  Gandhara  in  the  Buddha’s  time, 
Pukkusati,  is  said  to  have  sent  an  embassy  and  a 
letter  to  King  Bimbisara  of  Magadha.” 

16.  Kamboja  was  the  adjoining  country  in  the 
extreme  north-west,  with  Dvaraka  as  its  capital. 

From  the  political  point  of  view  this  list  is  curious. 
Some  names  we  should  expect  to  find — Sivi,  for  in- 

1 See  Rudradaman’s  Inscription  at  Junagadh. 

2 Alvvis,  Introduction , etc.,  p.  7S. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NA  TIONS  29 

stance,  and  Madda  and  SovTra,  and  Udyana  and 
Virata — are  not  there.  The  Mallas  and  the  Cetis 
occupy  a position  much  more  important  than  they 
actually  held  in  the  early  years  of  Buddhism.  Vesali, 
soon  to  become  a “ Magadha  town,”1  is  still  inde-* 
pendent.  And  Anga  and  KasT,  then  incorporated  in 
neighbouring  kingdoms,  are  apparently  looked  upon 
as  of  equal  rank  with  the  others.  It  is  evident  that 
this  was  an  old  list,  corresponding  to  a state  of 
things  existent  some  time  before,  and  handed  on  by 
tradition  in  the  Buddhist  schools.  But  this  only 
adds  to  its  interest  and  importance. 

Geographically  also  the  list  is  very  suggestive. 
No  place  south  of  Avanti  (about  230  N.)  occurs  in 
it  ; and  it  is  only  at  one  place  that  the  list  goes  even 
so  far  to  the  south  as  that.  Not  only  is  the  whole 
of  South  India  and  Ceylon  ignored  in  it,  but  there 
is  also  no  mention  of  Orissa,  of  Bengal  east  of  the 
Ganges,  or  even  of  the  Dekkan.  The  horizon  of 
those  who  drew  up  the  list  is  strictly  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  Himalayas,  and  on  the  south  (ex- 
cept at  this  one  point)  by  the  Vindhya  range,  on 
the  west  by  the  mountains  beyond  the  Indus,  and 
on  the  east  by  the  Ganges  as  it  turns  to  the  south. 

The  books  in  which  the  list  has  been  preserved 
have  preserved  also  abundant  evidence  of  a further 
stage  of  political  movement.  And  in  geographical 
knowledge  they  look  at  things  from  an  advanced 
point  of  view.  They  know  a very  little  farther 
south  at  the  one  point  where  the  old  list  goes  farthest 
in  that  direction. 

1 Sutta  Nipata,  1013. 


30 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


The  expression  Dakkhinapatha  which  occurs  in 
an  isolated  passage  in  one  of  our  oldest  documents' 
cannot  indeed  possibly  mean  the  whole  country 
comprised  in  our  modern  phrase  the  Dekkan.  But 
it  is  used,  in  the  very  passage  in  question,  as  de- 
scriptive of  a remote  settlement  or  colony  on  the 
banks  of  the  upper  Godhavari.2  The  expression 
does  not  occur  in  any  one  of  the  Four  Nikayas. 
When  it  appears  again,  in  a later  stage,3  it  seems 
still  to  refer  only,  in  a vague  way,  to  the  same 
limited  district,  on  the  banks  of  the  Godhavari.  And 
it  is  coupled  with  Avanti,  the  Avanti  of  the  ancient 
list. 

The  expression,  in  its  form,  is  curious.  It  means 
“the  Southern  Road,”  a strange  name  to  apply  to 
any  fixed  locality.  Already  in  a Vedic  hymn 4 
though  it  is  one  of  the  latest,  we  hear  of  a 
banished  man  going  along  the  “ path  of  the  South.” 
No  doubt  at  different  times  different  points  on  that 
path  had  been  reached.  In  the  Buddha’s  time  the 
most  southerly  town  is  given  (at  S.  N.  ioii)  as 
Patitthana,  the  place  afterwards  called  Paithana, 
and  Baithana  by  the  Greeks  (730  2'E.  by  21 0 42' 
N.).  And  the  extreme  southerly  point  reached  at 
all  is  the  hermitage  on  the  Godhavari,  about  20°  N.6 

1 Sutta  Nipata,  976. 

5 The  spelling  of  the  word  Alakassa,  the  name  of  this  remote  set- 
tlement, is  doubtful.  See  verse  997.  Spence  Hardy’s  Manual , p. 
334,  confirms  the  various  reading  M nlakassa. 

3Vin.  1.  195,  196;  2.  29S.  4 Rig  Veda,  x.  61.  8. 

6 There  was  an  older  and  more  famous  Patitthana,  also  a ferry, 
more  generally  known  as  Payaga,  on  the  site  of  the  Allahabad  of  to- 
day. Perhaps  this  more  southern  one  was  named  after  it. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS  31 

One  place  still  farther  south  may  possibly  be  re- 
ferred to  incidentally  as  known  in  the  Buddha’s 
time.  A teacher  of  olden  time  named  Tagara- 
sikhin,  is  several  times  mentioned.1  Sikhin  is 
otherwise  known  as  a name,  and  the  distinctive 
epithet  Tagara  may  possibly  be  local,  and  mean  “of 
Tagara,”  the  modern  Ter,  76°  12'  E.  by  180,  19' 
N.3  But  the  point  is  very  doubtful,  the  place  is  not 
mentioned  elsewhere,  and  I think  another  ex- 
planation of  the  name  is  more  likely. 

Besides  this  extension  in  the  Dekkan,  the  Nikayas 
speak  also  of  sea  voyages  out  of  sight  of  land  3 and 
they  mention  the  Kalinga  forest,4  and  the  settlement 
on  the  coast  there,  with  its  capital  Dantapura.5 
The  Vinaya  has  a probable  reference  to  Bharu- 
kaccha,0  and  the  Udana  one  to  Supparaka.7  These 
points,  taken  together  (and  no  doubt  others  can  be 
traced),  show  a marked  advance  in  geographical 
knowledge.  But  it  is  suggestive  to  notice  that  the 
advance  is  limited,  and  that  there  is  still  no  refer- 
ence whatever  either  to  South  India  or  to  Ceylon, 
which  play  so  great  a part  in  the  story  of  the 
Ramayana.8 

These  geographical  considerations  are  of  very 
considerable  importance  for  the  history  of  later 

1 M.  3.  69  ; S.  1.  92  ; Ud.  5.  3 ; Jat.  3.  299. 

2 See  Mr.  Fleet’s  article  in  the  J.  R.  A.  S.,  1901,  p.  542  ; and 
compare  Burgess,  Cave  Temples  of  India,  p.  248. 

3 D.  1.  222  ; A.  3.  368;  compare  Jat.  3.  267 . 4M.  1.  378. 

5 D.  19.  36.  6 Vin.  3.  38.  7 Ud.  r.  10. 

8 We  must  accept  Professor  Jacobi's  happy  suggestion  as  to  the 
mythological  basis  of  the  latter  part  of  the  Ramayana.  ValmTki,  in 
transplanting  the  ancient  myth  of  the  atmospheric  battles  from  the 


32 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Vedic  and  early  Sanskrit  literature.  They  go  far  to 
confirm  Professor  Bhandarkar’s  recent  views  as  to  the 
wholesale  recasting  of  brahmin  literature  in  the 
Gupta  period.  If  Apastamba,  for  instance,  as 
Hofrath  Dr.  Buhler  thought,  and  Hiranya-Kesin, 
wrote  in  the  south,  below  the  Godhavarl,  then  they 
must  be  later  than  the  books  whose  evidence  we 
have  been  considering. 

The  consideration  of  this  question  has  been 
hindered  by  a generally  accepted  hypothesis  which 
does  not  fit  the  facts.  It  is  supposed  that  the 
course  of  Aryan  migration  lay  along  the  valleys 
of  the  Ganges  and  the  Jumna.  It  cannot  have  been 
so  simple.  We  must  postulate  at  least  two  other 
lines  of  equal  importance — one  down  the  Indus, 
round  the  Gulf  of  Cutch,  and  so  up  to  Avanti ; and 
another  along  the  foot  of  the  mountains  from 
Kashmir,  by  way  of  Kosala,  to  the  Sakiya  country, 
and  so  on  through  Tirhut  to  Magadha  and  Anga. 
There  is  a great  deal  more  evidence  available,  both 
in  literature  and  in  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn 
from  language,  as  to  tribal  migration  in  India  than 
has  yet  been  collected  or  analysed.  Mr.  Grierson, 
for  instance,  has  only  just  recently  pointed  out  the 
important  fact  that,  even  now,  the  dialects  of 
Rajasthan  have  a close  resemblance  to  the  dialects 
spoken  along  the  Himalayas  not  only  in  Nepal  but 
as  far  west,  at  least,  as  Chamba.  This  would  tend 

heavens  to  the  earth,  in  turning  the  deities  of  the  ancient  poetry  into 
human  heroes,  in  raising  up  to  the  level  of  those  heroes  the  local 
deities  of  agriculture,  naturally  chose  as  the  district  where  he  localises 
so  revolutionary  a story  a land,  Lanka,  with  all  the  charm  of  mys- 
tery. Mystery  involves  knowledge,  but  not  too  much  knowledge. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


33 


to  show  that  their  ancestors  must  have  been  living 
close  together  when  they  began  their  wanderings  to 
the  east  and  the  south  respectively.  Both  started 
from  the  Northern  Panjab,  and  probably  neither 
migration  followed  the  Ganges  route.1 

These  children  of  hillmen  tended  to  cleave  to  the 
hills;  and,  like  mountaineers  all  the  world  over, 
were  generally  distinguished  by  a sturdy  independ- 
ence, both  in  politics  and  religion.  Widely  sep- 
arated, they  were  always  sympathetic;  and  any 
forward  movement,  such  as  Buddhism,  readily  found 
supporters  among  them. 

Another  point  on  which  this  geographical  evidence 
throws  light  is  the  date  of  the  colonisation  of  Ceylon. 
That  cannot  have  taken  place  in  any  considerable 
degree  before  the  period  in  which  the  Nikayas  were 
composed.  We  know  it  had  become  a well-estab- 
lished fact  at  the  time  of  Asoka.  It  must  have 
happened,  therefore,  between  these  two  dates;  and 
no  doubt  nearer  to  the  earlier  of  the  two.  The  Cey- 
lon chronicles,  therefore,  in  dating  the  first  colony  in 
the  very  year  of  the  Buddha’s  death  (a  wrong  syn- 
chronism which  is  the  cause  of  much  confusion  in 
their  early  chronology)  must  be  in  error. 

It  would  be  of  great  assistance  on  several  ques- 
tions if  we  could  form  some  conclusion  as  to  the 
number  of  inhabitants  in  Northern  India  in  the  sev- 
enth century,  B.C. ; though  any  such  conclusion 
would  necessarily  be  of  the  vaguest  description. 
To  judge  from  the  small  numbers  of  the  great  cities, 
and  from  the  wide  extent  of  forest  and  wilderness, 

1 y.  R.  A.  S.,  igoi,  p.  808. 


34 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


mentioned  in  the  books,  it  cannot  have  been  very 
large.  Perhaps  the  whole  territory  may  have  con- 
tained fifteen  to  twenty  millions.  In  the  fourth 
century,  B.C.,  the  confederation  formed  to  oppose 
Alexander  was  able  to  muster  an  army  of  four 
hundred  thousand.  And  in  the  third  century,  B.C., 
Megasthenes  describes  the  army  of  Magadha  as 
then  consisting,  in  peace  time,  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand foot,  three  hundred  elephants,  and  ten  thousand 
chariots. 


The  following  is  a list  of  the  principal  cities  exist- 
ing in  India  in  the  seventh  century  B.C. 

Ayojjhd  (from  which  the  Anglo-Indian  word  Oudh 
is  derived)  was  a town  in  Kosala  on  the  river  Sarayu. 
The  city  owes  all  its  fame  to  the  fact  that  the  author 
of  the  Ramayana  makes  it  the  capital  at  the  date  of 
the  events  in  his  story.  It  is  not  even  mentioned  in 
the  Maha'bharata  ; and  was  quite  unimportant  in  the 
Buddha’s  time.  There  is  another  Ayojjha  in  the 
extreme  west ; and  a third  is  said  (wrongly,  I think) 
to  have  been  situate  on  the  Ganges.1 

Bdrdnasi  (Benares)  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Ganges,  at  the  junction  between  it  and  the  river 
Barana.  The  city  proper  included  the  land  between 
the  Barana  and  a stream  called  the  Asi,  as  its  name 
suggests.  Its  extent,  including  the  suburbs,  is  often 
stated  to  have  been,  at  the  time  when  it  was  the 
capital  of  an  independent  kingdom  (that  is,  some 

1 See  Jat.  4.  82  : Samyutta  3.  140,  4,  179  (but  the  reading  must 

be  corrected). 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


35 


time  before  the  rise  of  Buddhism)  twelve  leagues,  or 
about  eighty-five  miles.  Seeing  that  Megasthenes 
gives  the  circuit  of  the  walls  of  Pataliputta,  where 
he  himself  lived,  as  220  stadia  (or  about  twenty-five 
miles),  this  tradition  as  to  the  size  of  the  city,  or 
rather  county,  Benares  at  the  height  of  its  pros- 
perity seems  by  no  means  devoid  of  credit.  Its 
Town  Hall  was  then  no  longer  used  as  a parliament 
chamber  for  the  transaction  of  public  business.  Pub- 
lic discussions  on  religious  and  philosophical  ques- 
tions were  carried  on  in  it.1 

Champa , on  the  river  of  the  same  name,  was  the 
ancient  capital  of  Anga.  Its  site  has  been  identi- 
fied by  Cunningham  with  the  modern  villages  of 
similar  names  twenty-four  miles  east  of  Bhagalpur  ; 
and  is  stated  to  have  been  sixty  leagues  from  Mit- 
hila2  It  was  celebrated  for  its  beautiful  lake,  named 
after  Queen  Gaggara,  who  had  had  it  excavated. 
On  its  banks  was  a grove  of  Champaka  trees,  well 
known  for  the  fragrant  odour  of  their  beautiful  white 
flowers.  And  there,  in  the  Buddha’s  time,  wander- 
ing teachers  were  wont  to  lodge.3  The  Indian  colon- 
ists in  Cochin  China  named  one  of  the  most  important 
of  their  settlements  after  this  famous  old  town.4  And 
the  Champa  in  Anga  was  again,  in  its  turn,  so  named 
after  the  still  older  Champa  in  Kashmir. 

Kampilla,  the  capital  of  the  Northern  Pancalas. 
It  was  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Ganges,  about 
long.  790  YV.,  but  its  exact  site  has  not  yet  been 
decided  with  certainty. 

1 Jat.  4.  74. 

2 Jat.  6.  32. 


3 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , i.  144. 

4 I-Tsing’s  Travels,  p.  58. 


36 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Kosambi , the  capital  of  the  Vatsas  or  Vamsas. 
It  was  on  the  Jumna,  and  thirty  leagues,  say  230 
miles,  by  river  from  Benares.2  It  was  the  most  im- 
portant entrepot  for  both  goods  and  passengers  coming 
to  Kosala  and  Magadha  from  the  south  and  west.3 
In  the  Sutta  Nipata  (1010-1013)  the  whole  route  is 
given  from  a place  south  of  Ujjen,  through  Kosambi 
to  Kusinara,  with  the  stopping-places  on  the  way. 
The  route  from  Kosambi  to  Rajagaha  was  down  the 
river.4  In  the  Buddha’s  time  there  were  already  four 
distinct  establishments  of  his  Order  in  the  suburbs 
of  Kosambi — the  Badarika,  Kukkuta,  and  Ghosita 
Parks,  and  the  Mango  Grove  of  Pavariya.5  The 
Buddha  was  often  there,  at  one  or  other  of  these 
residences;  and  many  of  his  discourses  there  have 
been  handed  down  in  the  books. 

Madhura,  on  the  Jumna,  the  capital  of  the  Sura- 
senas.  It  is  tempting  to  identify  it  with  the  site  of 
the  modern  Mathura,  in  spite  of  the  difference  in 
spelling.  Very  ancient  remains  have  been  found 
there.  The  king  of  Madhura  in  the  Buddha’s  time 
bore  the  title  of  Avanti-putto,6  and  was  therefore  re- 
lated to  the  royal  family  at  Ujjeni.  Madhura  was 
visited  by  the  Buddha,7  and  was  the  residence  of 
Maha  Kaccana,6  one  of  his  most  influential  disciples, 
to  whom  tradition  attributes  the  first  grammatical 
treatment  of  the  Pali  language,  and  after  whom  the 
oldest  Pali  grammar  is  accordingly  named.  As  Mad- 

' Jat.  4.  28  ; 6.  236.  6 Vin.  4.  16  ; Sum.  319. 

2 Com.  on  Anguttara,  1.  25.  6 M.  2.  83. 

3 Vinaya  Texts , 2.  189  ; 3.  67,  224,  233.  1 A.  2.  57. 

4 Vinaya  Texts,  3.  382.  8 M.  2.  83. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NA  TIONS 


37 


hura  is  mentioned  in  the  Milinda  (331)  as  one  of  the 
most  famous  places  in  India,  whereas  in  the  Buddha’s 
time  it  is  barely  mentioned,  the  time  of  its  greatest 
growth  must  have  been  between  these  dates.  It 
was  sufficiently  famous  for  the  other  Madhura,  in 
Tinnevelly,  first  mentioned  in  the  Mahavansa,1  to  be 
named  after  it.  A third  Madhura,  in  the  extreme 
north,  is  mentioned  at  Jat.  4.  79,  and  Peta  Vatthu 
Vannana,  in. 

Mithila,  the  capital  of  Videha,  and  the  capital 
therefore  of  the  kings  Janaka  and  Makhadeva,  was 
in  the  district  now  called  Tirhut.  Its  size  is  fre- 
quently given  as  seven  leagues,  about  fifty  miles,  in 
circumference.2 

Rajagaha,  the  capital  of  Magadha,  the  modern 
Rajgir.  There  were  two  distinct  towns;  the  older 
one,  a hill  fortress,  more  properly  Giribbaja,  was  very 
ancient,  and  is  said  to  have  been  laid  out  by  Malia 
Govinda  the  architect.3  The  later  town,  at  the  foot 
of  the  hills,  was  built  by  Bimbisara,  the  contem- 
porary of  the  Buddha,  and  is  Rajagaha  proper.  It 
was  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity  during,  and  imme- 
diately after,  the  Buddha’s  time.  But  it  was  aban- 
doned by  Sisunaga,  who  transferred  the  capital  to 
Vesali ; his  son  Kalasoka  transferring  it  to  Patali- 
putta,  near  the  site  of  the  modern  Patna.4  The 
fortifications  of  both  Giribbaja  and  Rajagaha  are 
still  extant,  44-  and  3 miles  respectively  in  circumfer- 
ence ; the  most  southerly  point  of  the  walls  of 

1 Tumour’s  edition,  p.  51.  2 Jat.  3.  365  ; 4.  315  ; 6.  246,  etc. 

3 Vimana  Vatthu  Commentary,  p.  82.  But  compare  Dlgha,  xix.  36. 

' Bigandet,  2.  1 15. 


38 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Giribbaja,  the  “ Mountain  Stronghold,”  being  one 
mile  north  of  the  most  northerly  point  of  the  walls 
of  the  new  town  of  Rajagaha,  the  “ King’s  House.” 
The  stone  walls  of  Giribbaja  are  the  oldest  extant 
stone  buildings  in  India. 

Roruka,  or  in  later  times  Roruva,  the  capital  of 
Sovlra,  from  which  the  modern  name  Surat  is  de- 
rived, was  an  important  centre  of  the  coasting  trade.1 
Caravans  arrived  there  from  all  parts  of  India,  even 
from  Magadha.2  As  Ophir  is  spelt  by  Josephus  and 
in  the  Septuagint  Sophir,  and  the  names  of  the  ivory, 
apes,  and  peacocks  imported  thence  into  Palestine 
are  Indian  names,  it  is  not  improbable  that  Roruka 
was  the  seaport  to  which  the  authors  of  the  Hebrew 
chronicles  supposed  that  Solomon’s  vessels  had 
traded.  For  though  the  more  precise  name  of  the 
port  was  Roruka,  we  know  from  such  expressions  as 
that  used  in  the  Milinda,  p.  29,  that  the  Indians 
talked  about  sailing  to  Sovlra.  The  exact  site  has 
not  yet  been  rediscovered,  but  it  was  almost  cer- 
tainly on  the  Gulf  of  Kach,  somewhere  near  the 
modern  Kharragoa.  When  its  prosperity  declined, 
its  place  was  taken  by  Bharukaccha,  the  modern 
Bharoch,  or  by  Supparaka,  both  on  the  opposite, 
the  southern,  side  of  the  Kathiawad  peninsula. 

Sagala.  There  were  three  cities  of  this  name. 
But  the  two  in  the  far  East  3 were  doubtless  named 
(even  if  the  readings  in  the  MSS.  are  correct,  and  I 
doubt  them  in  both  cases)  after  the  famous  Sagala 

1 Dlgha,  xix.  36  ; Jat.  3.  470. 

2 Vimana,  V.  A.  370  ; Divy.  544. 

3 Jat.  5.  337,  and  Com.  on  Then  Gatha,  p.  127. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


39 


in  the  extreme  north-west,  which  offered  so  brave  a 
resistance  to  Alexander,  and  where  King  Milanda 
afterwards  reigned.  It  lay  about  32°  N.  by  740  E., 
and  was  the  capital  of  the  Maddas.  Cunningham 
thought  he  had  found  the  ruins  of  it  ; but  no  exca- 
vations have  been  carried  out,  and  the  exact  site  is 
still  therefore  uncertain. 

Sdketa,  the  site  of  which  has  been  indentified  with 
the  ruins,  as  yet  unexplored,  at  Sujan  Kot,  on  the 
Sai  River,  in  the  Unao  district  of  the  modern  province 
of  Audh.1  In  ancient  times  it  was  an  important 
city  in  Kosala,  and  sometimes  the  capital.3  In  the 
Buddha’s  time  the  capital  was  Savatthi.  Saketa  is 
often  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Ayojjha  (Oudh),3 
but  both  cities  are  mentioned  as  existing  in  the 
Buddha’s  time.  They  were  possibly  adjoining,  like 
London  and  Westminster.  But  it  is  Saketa,  and 
not  Ayojjha,  that  is  called  one  of  the  six  great  cities 
of  India.4  The  Afijana  Wood  near  by  Saketa  is  the 
place  at  which  many  of  the  Buddhist  Suttas  are 
said  to  have  been  spoken.  The  distance  from  Saketa 
northwards  to  Savatthi  was  six  leagues,  about  forty- 
five  miles,6  and  could  be  covered  in  one  day  with 
seven  relays  of  horses.6  But  there  was  a broad  river 
on  the  way,  only  to  be  crossed  by  ferry  ; and  there 
are  constant  references  to  the  dangers  of  the  journey 
on  foot. 

1 Fiihrer,  Monumental  Antiquities  of  N.  IV.  Provinces  and  Oudh , 
p.  275. 

2 Mahavastu,  I.  348;  Jat.  3.  270. 

3 E.  g.  Cunningham’s  Ancient  Geography , p.  405. 

4 Rh.  D.,  Buddhist  Suttas , p.  99. 

5 Vinaya  Texts , 2.  147.  6 Majj’nima,  1.  149. 


40 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Savatthi,  or  Sravasti,  was  the  capital  of  Northern 
Kosala,  the  residence  of  King  Pasenadi,  and  one  of 
the  six  great  cities  in  India  during  the  lifetime  of 
the  Buddha.  Archaeologists  differ  as  to  its  position  ; 
and  the  decision  of  this  vexed  point  is  one  of  the  first 
importance  for  the  early  history  of  India,  as  there 
must  be  many  inscriptions  there.  It  was  six  leagues 
north  of  Saketa,1 2  forty-five  leagues  north-west  of 
Rajagaha,3  more  than  one  hundred  north-east  of 
Supparaka,3  thirty  leagues  from  Sankassa,4  and  on 
the  bank  of  the  Achiravatl.5 

Ujjeni,  the  capital  of  Avanti,  the  Greek  Ozene, 
about  770  E.  and  230  N.  There  Kaccana,  one  of 
the  leading  disciples  of  the  Buddha,  and  also 
Asoka’s  son  Mahinda,  the  famous  apostle  to  Ceylon, 
were  born.  In  later  times  there  was  a famous  mon- 
astery there  called  the  Southern  Mount ; and  in 
earlier  times  the  capital  had  been  Mahissati.6  Ved- 
isa,  where  the  famous  Bhilsa  Topes  were  lately 
found,  and  Erakaccha,  another  well-known  site,  were 
in  the  vicinity.  Vedisa  was  fifty  leagues  from 
Pataliputta.7 

Vesdli.  This  was  the  capital  of  the  Licchavi  clan, 
already  closely  related  by  marriage  to  the  kings  of 
Magadha,  and  the  ancestors  of  the  kings  of  Nepal, 
of  the  Mauryas,  and  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Guptas. 
It  was  the  headquarters  of  the  powerful  Vajjian  con- 


1 Vinaya  Texts,  2.  147. 

2 Rh.  D.,  Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  p.  130. 

3 Divyavadana,  43. 

4Jataka,  4.  265.  6 Digha,  xix.  36. 

6 Vinaya  Texts,  2.  24,  222.  1 Maha  Bodhi  Vamsa,  g8. 


THE  CLANS  AND  NATIONS 


41 


federacy,  afterwards  defeated,  but  not  broken  up,  by 
Ajatasattu.  It  was  the  only  great  city  in  all  the 
territories  of  the  free  clans  who  formed  so  important 
a factor  in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  sixth 
century  B.C.  It  must  have  been  a great  and  flourish- 
ing place.  But  though  different  guesses  have  been 
made  as  to  its  site,  no  one  of  them  has  yet  been 
proved  to  be  true  by  excavation.  It  was  somewhere 
in  Tirhut ; and  just  three  leagues,  or,  say,  twenty-five 
miles,  north  of  the  Ganges,  reckoned  from  a spot  on 
the  bank  of  that  river,  five  leagues,  say  thirty-eight 
miles,  from  Rajagaha.1  Behind  it  lay  the  Great  Forest, 
the  Mahavana,  which  stretched  northwards  to  the 
Himalayas.  In  that  wood  a hermitage  had  been 
built  by  the  community  for  the  Buddha,  and  there 
many  of  his  discourses  were  delivered.  And  in  an 
adjoining  suburb,  the  founder  of  the  Jains,  who  was 
closely  related  to  some  of  the  leading  chiefs,  was 
born.  We  hear  of  its  three  walls,2  each  of  them  a 
gdvuta,  a cow’s  call,  distant  from  the  next3  ; and  of 
the  7707  rajas,  that  is  Licchavi  chiefs,  who  dwelt 
there4;  and  of  the  sacred  pool  in  which  they  re- 
ceived their  consecration.3  There  were  many 
shrines  of  pre-Buddhistic  worship  in  and  around  the 
city,  and  the  discovery  and  excavation  of  the  site  is 
most  desirable. 

The  same  may  indeed  be  said  of  all  these  ancient 
cities.  Not  one  of  them  has  been  properly  exca- 
vated. The  archaeology  of  India  is,  at  present,  an 
almost  unworked  field. 

1 Dhammapala  on  S.  N.,  2.  1.  2 Jataka,  1.  389. 

3 lb.  1.  504.  4 lb.  1.  504,  3.  1.  5 lb.  4.  148. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  VILLAGE 

IN  the  Buddha’s  time  and  in  that  portion  of  North 
India  where  the  Buddhist  influence  was  most 
early  felt  — that  is  to  say  in  the  districts  including 
and  adjoining  those  now  called  the  United  Provinces 
and  Behar — the  social  conditions  were,  on  the  whole, 
simple.  But  there  are  several  points  of  great  interest 
on  which  they  differed  from  those  of  the  same  dis- 
tricts now,  and  from  those  of  related  tribes  in  Eu- 
rope then. 

Divergent  theories  have  been  propounded  to  ex- 
plain these  differences.  The  influence  of  food  and 
climate  is  assigned  a paramount  importance.  Vege- 
tarian diet  is  supposed  to  explain  the  physical  and 
mental  degeneracy  proved  by  the  presumed  absence 
of  political  movements  and  ardent  patriotism.  Or 
the  enervating  and  tropical  heat  of  the  sultry  plains 
is  supposed  to  explain  at  once  the  want  of  political 
vigour  and  the  bad  philosophy.  Or  the  overwhelm- 
ing mental  effect  of  the  mighty  powers  of  nature 
— the  vivid  storms  of  thunder  and  lightning,  the  irre- 
sistible rays  of  the  scorching  sun,  the  depressing 


42 


THE  VILLAGE 


43 


majesty  of  the  great  mountains  — are  called  upon  as 
a sufficient  explanation  of  the  inferiority  of  the  In- 
dian peoples.  Or  the  contact  with  aboriginal  tribes 
in  a semi-savage  state  of  development,  the  frequent 
intermarriages,  and  the  consequent  adoption  of  fool- 
ish and  harmful  superstitions,  are  put  forward  as  the 
reasons  for  whatever  we  find  strange  in  their  life 
and  thought. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  our  knowledge  of  the 
state  of  things  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  either  on 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  on  the  one  hand,  or 
in  the  Ganges  Valley  on  the  other,  is  sufficiently 
clear  and  precise  to  justify  our  taking  for  granted 
the  then  inferiority  of  the  Indians.  In  some  re- 
spects it  would  seem  to  be  the  other  way.  In  in- 
tellectual vigour,  at  least,  the  Indians  were  not 
wanting.  That  Europeans  should  believe,  as  a mat- 
ter of  course,  in  the  vast  superiority  of  Europeans, 
not  only  now,  but  always,  is  psychologically  inter- 
esting. It  is  so  like  the  opinion  of  the  ancient 
Greeks  about  barbarians,  and  of  the  modern  Chinese 
about  foreigners.  But  the  reasons  given  are  vague, 
and  will  scarcely  bear  examination.  I recollect  hear- 
ing Professor  Bidder  at  the  Oriental  Congress  in 
Paris,  in  1897,  when  the  argument  of  climate  was 
adduced,  entering  an  emphatic  caution.  As  In- 
spector of  Schools  in  India  for  many  years,  he  knew 
the  climate  well ; and  observed  that  exaggerated 
estimates  of  its  baneful  influence  had  been  most  of- 
ten advanced  by  those  who  had  never  been  in  India. 
Those  who  had  lived  there  knew  the  great  amount 
of  energy  and  work,  both  physical  and  intellectual, 


44 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


that  was  not  only  possible,  but  habitual,  to  both 
Europeans  and  the  natives  of  India.  I can  fully 
confirm  this.  The  climate  has  its  positive  advan- 
tages. All  the  other  most  ancient  civilisations  (in 
Egypt  for  instance,  in  Mesopotamia,  and  in  China) 
grew  up,  under  somewhat  similar  outward  condi- 
tions, in  warm  and  fertile  river  valleys.  And  clim- 
ate varies  greatly  even  in  India.  We  must  not 
forget  that  the  Sakiya  country,  at  least,  in  which 
Buddhism  arose,  stretched  up  into  the  lower  slopes 
of  the  Himalayas.  And  in  the  seventh  century  B.C. 
the  most  powerful  kingdom  was  the  Northern  Ko- 
sala,  whose  capital  lay  under  the  hills,  and  whose 
power  mainly  depended  on  the  mountaineers  drawn 
from  its  vicinity. 

It  is  probable  that  economic  conditions  and  social 
institutions  were  a more  important  factor  in  Indian 
life  than  geographical  position.  Now  the  social 
structure  of  India  was  based  upon  the  village.  We 
do  not  as  yet  know  all  the  details  of  its  organisa- 
tion ; and  no  doubt  different  villages,  in  different 
districts,  varied  one  from  another  in  the  customs  of 
land-tenure  and  in  the  rights  of  individual  house- 
holders as  against  the  community. 

It  is  a common  error,  vitiating  all  conclusions  as 
to  the  early  history  of  India,  to  suppose  that  the 
tribes  with  whom  the  Aryans,  in  their  gradual  con- 
quest of  India,  came  into  contact,  were  savages. 
Some  were  so.  There  were  hill  tribes,  gypsies, 
bands  of  hunters  in  the  woods.  But  there  were  also 
settled  communities  with  highly  developed  social 
organisation,  wealthy  enough  to  excite  the  cupidity 


THE  VILLAGE 


45 


of  the  invaders,  and  in  many  cases  too  much  ad- 
dicted to  the  activities  of  peace  to  be  able  to  offer, 
whenever  it  came  to  a fight,  a prolonged  resistance. 
But  they  were  strong  enough  to  retain,  in  some 
cases,  a qualified  independence,  and  in  others  to  im- 
pose upon  the  new  nation  that  issued  from  the 
struggle  many  of  their  own  ideas,  many  of  the  de- 
tails of  their  own  institutions. 

And  in  many  cases  it  never  came  to  a struggle  at 
all.  The  country  was  immense.  Compared  with 
its  wide  expanse  the  tribes  and  clans  were  few.  Of- 
ten separated  one  from  the  other  by  broad  rivers 
and  impenetrable  forest,  there  must  have  been  am- 
ple opportunity  for  independent  growth,  and  for  the 
interaction  of  peaceful  contact. 

These  circumstances  will  explain  the  divergency 
in  the  village  arrangements.  But  in  some  respects 
they  were  all  similar.  We  nowhere  hear  of  isolated 
houses.  The  houses  were  all  together,  in  a group, 
separated  only  by  narrow  lanes.  Immediately  ad- 
joining was  the  sacred  grove  of  trees  of  the  primeval 
forest,  left  standing  when  the  forest  clearing  had 
been  made.  Beyond  this  was  the  wide  expanse  of 
cultivated  field,  usually  rice-field.  And  each  village 
had  grazing  ground  for  the  cattle,  and  a considerable 
stretch  of  jungle,  where  the  villagers  had  common 
rights  of  waste  and  wood. 

The  cattle  belonged  severally  to  the  householders 
of  the  village.  But  no  one  had  separate  pasture. 
After  the  crop  was  cut  the  cattle  roamed  over  the 
field.  When  the  crops  were  growing  they  were  sent 
all  together,  under  the  charge  of  a herdsman,  hired 


46 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


by  the  village  collectively,  to  the  village  grazing 
grounds  beyond  the  field.1  The  herdsman  was  an 
important  personage,  and  is  described  as 

“ knowing  the  general  appearance  of  each  one  of  his 
charge  and  the  marks  upon  it,  skilled  to  remove  flies’ 
eggs  from  their  hide  and  to  make  sores  heal  over,  accus- 
tomed to  keep  a good  fire  going  with  smoke  to  keep  the 
gnats  away,  knowing  where  the  fords  are  and  the  drink- 
ing places,  clever  in  choosing  pasture,  leaving  milk  in 
the  udders,  and  with  a proper  respect  for  the  leaders  of 
the  herd.”  3 

The  fields  were  all  cultivated  at  the  same  time, 
the  irrigation  channels  being  laid  by  the  community, 
and  the  supply  of  water  regulated  by  rule,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  headman.  No  individual  or  cor- 
porate proprietor  needed  to  fence  his  portion  of  the 
fields.  There  was  a common  fence;  and  the  whole 
field,  with  its  rows  of  boundaries,  which  were  also 
the  water  channels,  bore  the  appearance  of  the 
patched  robe  of  a member  of  the  Buddhist  Order.3 

As  a general  rule  the  great  field  was  divided  into 
plots  corresponding  in  number  to  that  of  the  heads 
of  houses  in  the  villages;  and  each  family  took  the 
produce  of  its  share.  But  there  was  no  such  pro- 
prietory right,  as  against  the  community,  as  we  are 
accustomed  to  in  England.  We  hear  of  no  instance 
of  a shareholder  selling  or  mortgaging  his  share  of 
the  village  field  to  an  outsider;  and  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  do  so,  at  least  without  the  consent  of  the 

1 Jat.  i.  194. 

2 M.  1.  222  ; A.  5.  350.  Comp.  Jat.  3.  401  ; and  perhaps  Rig 

Veda,  x.  19.  3 Vin.  1.  287;  comp.  2.  185,  Jat.  4.  276. 


THE  VILLAGE 


47 


village  council.  We  have  three  instances  of  sales  of 
land  in  the  books.1  But  in  one  case  it  was  forest 
land  cleared  by  the  proprietor  or  his  ancestors.  A 
very  old  text 2 apparently  implies  that  a piece  of 
ground  was  given  as  a sacrificial  fee.  But  it  is  at 
once  added  that  the  earth  itself  said, — and  Mother 
Earth  was  a most  dread  divinity, — “ No  mortal  must 
give  me  away  ! ” 

Neither  had  any  individual  the  right  of  bequest, 
even  to  the  extent  of  deciding  the  shares  of  his  own 
family.  All  such  matters  were  settled  by  custom, 
by  the  general  sense  of  the  community  as  to  what 
was  right  and  proper.  And  the  general  sense  did 
not  recognise  the  right  of  primogeniture.  Very 
often  a family,  on  the  death  of  a householder,  would 
go  on  as  before  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
eldest  son.  If  the  property  were  divided,  the  land 
was  equally  divided  among  the  sons.  And  though 
the  eldest  son  received  an  extra  share  (differing  in 
different  places  and  times)  in  the  personal  property, 
that  also  was  otherwise  divided  equally.3  We  find 
in  the  earliest  law  book,  that  of  Gautama,  a state- 
ment that  the  youngest  son  also,  as  in  the  analogous 
English  law  of  gavelkind,  received  an  extra  share ; 
but  in  the  later  law  books  this  disappears.  The 
women,  too,  had  their  personal  property,  chiefly 
jewelry  and  clothes  ; and  the  daughters  inherited  from 
the  mother.  They  had  no  need  of  a separate  share  of 
the  land,  as  they  had  the  advantage  of  the  produce 
falling  to  the  share  of  their  husbands  and  brothers. 

1 Vin.  2.  158,  159  ; Jat.  iv.  167.  2 Sat.  Br.  xiii.  7,  15. 

a Gaut.  18.  5-17  ; Baudh.  2.  2,  3 ; Apast.  2.  6,  14. 


48 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


No  individual  could  acquire,  either  by  purchase  or 
inheritance,  any  exclusive  right  in  any  portion  of  the 
common  grassland  or  woodland.  Great  importance 
was  attached  to  these  rights  of  pasture  and  forestry. 
The  priests  claimed  to  be  able,  as  one  result  of  per- 
forming a particular  sacrifice  (with  six  hundred  vic- 
tims !),  to  ensure  that  a wide  tract  of  such  land  should 
be  provided.'  And  it  is  often  made  a special  point, 
in  describing  the  grant  of  a village  to  a priest,  that 
it  contained  such  common.8 

What  happened  in  such  a case  was  that  the  king 
granted,  not  the  land  (he  had  no  property  in  the 
land),  but  the  tithe  due,  by  custom,  to  the  govern- 
ment as  yearly  tax.  The  peasantry  were  ousted 
from  no  one  of  their  rights.  Their  position  was  in- 
deed improved.  For,  paying  only  the  same  tax  as 
before,  they  thus  acquired  the  protection  of  a strong 
influence,  which  would  not  fail,  on  occasion,  to  be 
exerted  on  their  behalf. 

Not  that  they  were  usually  without  some  such 
protection.  It  was  through  the  village  headman 
that  all  government  business  was  carried  on,  and  he 
had  both  opportunity  and  power  to  represent  their 
case  to  the  higher  officials.  From  the  fact  that  the 
appointment  of  this  officer  is  not  claimed  forthe  king 
until  the  later  law  books3  it  is  almost  certain  that,  in 
earlier  times,  the  appointment  was  either  hereditary, 
or  conferred  by  the  village  council  itself. 

Th is  village  headman  had,  no  doubt,  to  prepare 

1 Sat.  Br.  13.  3,  7. 

2 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 1.  108,  etc.  Comp.  M.  3.  133  ; 

Jat.  vi.  344.  3 Manu,  vii.  1 1 5 ; Vishnu,  iii.  7-10. 


THE  VILLAGE 


49 


the  road,  and  provide  food,  on  the  occasion  of  a royal 
person  or  high  official  visiting  his  village.  But  we 
find  no  mention  of  corvee , forced  labour  (raja-kariya) 
at  this  period.  And  even  in  the  law  books  which 
refer  to  a later  date,  this  is  mentioned  as  a service  due 
from  artisans  and  mechanics,  and  not  from  villagers.' 

On  the  other  hand  villagers  are  described  as  unit- 
ing, of  their  own  accord,  to  build  Mote-halls  and 
Rest-houses  and  reservoirs,  to  mend  the  roads  be- 
tween their  own  and  adjacent  villages,  and  even  to 
lay  out  parks.  And  it  is  interesting  to  find  that 
women  are  proud  to  bear  a part  in  such  works  of 
public  utility.2 

The  economic  conditions  in  such  villages  were 
simple.  None  of  the  householders  could  have  been 
what  would  now  be  called  rich.  On  the  other  hand 
there  was  a sufficiency  for  their  simple  needs,  there 
was  security,  there  was  independence.  There  were 
no  landlords,  and  no  paupers.  There  was  little  if 
any  crime.  What  crime  there  was  in  the  country 
(of  which  later)  was  nearly  all  outside  the  villages. 
When  the  central  power  was  strong  enough,  as  it 
usually  was,  to  put  down  dacoity,  the  people,  to 
quote  the  quaint  words  of  an  old  Suttanta,  “ pleased 
one  with  another  and  happy,  dancing  their  children 
in  their  hands,  dwelt  with  open  doors.”  3 

The  only  serious  inroad  upon  that  happiness  seems 
to  have  been  famine  resulting  from  drought.  It  is 
true  that  Megasthenes,  long  ambassador  at  the  court 
of  Magadha,  says  that,  owing  to  irrigation,  famines 

1 Gant.  x.  31  ; Vas.  xix.  28  ; Manu,  vii.  138. 

5 J at.  1.  199.  3 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  i.  176. 


50 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


were  quite  unknown.  But  we  have  too  many  refer- 
ences to  times  of  scarcity,  and  that,  too,  in  the  very 
districts  adjacent  to  Patna  where  Megasthenes  lived,1 
to  accept  his  statement  as  accurate  for  the  time  we 
are  discussing.  As  those  references  refer,  however, 
to  a date  two  centuries  earlier,  it  is  possible  (but  not, 
I think,  very  probable)  that  things,  in  this  respect, 
had  improved  in  the  interval  between  the  times  re- 
ferred to  in  our  records,  and  that  of  Megasthenes. 
We  shall  see  below,  in  the  chapter  on  Chandragupta, 
that  his  statements  often  require  correction.  And 
this  is,  more  probably,  merely  another  instance  of  a 
similar  kind. 

It  was  under  some  such  economic  conditions  as 
these  that  the  great  bulk — say  at  least  70-80  per 
cent. — of  the  people  lived.  In  the  books,  ancient 
and  modern,  a few  of  the  remaining  few  are  so  much 
more  constantly  mentioned  (precisely  because  they 
differ  from  the  mass,  and  the  mass  is  taken  for 
granted  as  understood)  that  the  impression  given  to 
the  reader  is  apt  to  be  entirely  misleading.  These 
others — priests  and  kings,  outcasts  and  jugglers, 
soldiers,  citizens,  and  mendicant  thinkers — played 
their  part,  and  an  important  part.  But  the  peoples 
of  India,  then  much  more  even  than  now,  were,  first 
and  foremost,  village  folk.  In  the  whole  vast  terri- 
tory from  Kandahar  nearly  to  Calcutta,  and  from  the 
Himalayas  southwards  to  the  Run  of  Kach,  we  find 
mentioned  barely  a score  of  towns  of  any  consider- 
able size. 

1 See  the  passages  collected  at  Vinaya  Texts , 3.  220  ; and  also 
Jat.  2.  149,  367,  5.  193,  6.  487. 


THE  VILLAGE 


51 


It  will  have  been  seen,  however,  that  the  mass  of 
the  people,  the  villagers,  occupied  a social  grade  quite 
different  from,  and  far  above,  our  village  folk.  They 
held  it  degradation,  to  which  only  dire  misfortune 
would  drive  them,  to  work  for  hire.  They  were 
proud  of  their  standing,  their  family,  and  their  vil- 
lage. And  they  were  governed  by  headmen  of  their 
own  class  and  village,  very  probably  selected  by 
themselves,  in  accordance  with  their  own  customs 
and  ideals. 


CHAPTER  IV 


SOCIAL  GRADES 


ERHAPS  the  most  important  of  these  in  their 


own  eyes  were  the  customs  as  to  the  holding 
and  distribution  of  lands  and  property.  But  those 
as  to  religion  on  the  one  hand,  and  as  to  connubimn 
and  cominensality  on  the  other,  had  probably  a 
greater  effect  on  their  real  well-being  and  national 
progress. 

We  have  learnt  in  recent  years  that  among  primi- 
tive peoples  all  over  the  world  there  exist  restrictions 
as  to  the  connubium  (the  right  of  intermarriage),  and 
as  to  commensality  (the  right  of  eating  together).  Cus- 
toms of  endogamy  and  exogamy,  that  is,  of  choosing 
a husband  or  wife  outside  a limited  circle  of  relation- 
ship, and  inside  a wider  circle,  were  universal.  A 
man,  for  instance,  may  not  marry  in  his  own  family, 
he  may  marry  within  his  own  clan,  he  may  not  marry 
outside  the  clan.  Among  different  tribes  the  limits 
drawn  were  subject  to  different  customs,  were  not 
the  same  in  detail.  But  the  limits  were  always  there. 
There  were  customs  of  eating  together  at  sacred 
tribal  feasts  from  which  foreigners  were  excluded ; 


52 


SOCIAL  GRADES 


53 


customs  of  not  eating  together  with  persons  outside 
certain  limits  of  relationship,  except  under  special 
circumstances;  customs  by  which  an  outsider  could, 
by  eating  with  men  of  a tribe,  acquire  certain  rights 
of  relationship  with  that  tribe.  Here  again  the  de- 
tails differ.  But  the  existence  of  such  restrictions  as 
to  commensality  was  once  universal. 

In  India  also  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.  such  cus- 
toms were  prevalent,  and  prevalent  in  widely  different 
forms  among  the  different  tribes, — Aryan,  Dravidian, 
Kolarian,  and  others, — which  made  up  the  mixed  pop- 
ulation. We  have  unfortunately  only  Aryan  records. 
And  they,  of  course,  take  all  the  customs  for  granted, 
being  addressed  to  people  who  knew  all  about  them. 
We  have  therefore  to  depend  on  hints  ; and  the  hints 
given  have  not,  as  yet,  been  all  collected  and  sifted. 
But  a considerable  number,  and  those  of  great  im- 
portance, have  been  already  observed  ; so  that  we 
are  able  to  draw  out  some  principal  points  in  a sketch 
that  requires  future  filling  in. 

The  basis  of  the  social  distinctions  was  relation- 
ship ; or,  as  the  Aryans,  proud  of  their  lighter  colour, 
put  it,  colour.  Their  books  constantly  repeat  a 
phrase  as  being  common  amongst  the  people, — and 
it  was  certainly  common  at  least  among  the  Aryan 
sections  of  the  people, — which  divided  all  the  world, 
as  they  knew  it,  into  four  social  grades,  called  Colours 
( Vanna).  At  the  head  were  the  Kshatriyas,  the  nobles, 
who  claimed  descent  from  the  leaders  of  the  Aryan 
tribes  in  their  invasion  of  the  continent.  They  were 
most  particular  as  to  the  purity  of  their  descent 
through  seven  generations,  both  on  the  father’s  and 


54 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  mother’s  side  ; and  are  described  as  “fair  in  colour, 
fine  in  presence,  stately  to  behold.”1  Then  came 
the  brahmins,  claiming  descent  from  the  sacrificing 
priests,  and  though  the  majority  of  them  followed 
then  other  pursuits,  they  were  equally  with  the 
nobles  distinguished  by  high  birth  and  clear  com- 
plexion. Below  these  were  the  peasantry,  the  peo- 
ple, the  Vaisyas  or  Vessas.  And  last  of  all  came 
the  Sudras,  which  included  the  bulk  of  the  people  of 
non-Aryan  descent,  who  worked  for  hire,  were  en- 
gaged in  handicraft  or  service,  and  were  darker  in 
colour. 

In  a general  way  this  classification  corresponded  to 
the  actual  facts  of  life.  But  there  were  insensible 
gradations  within  the  borders  of  each  of  the  four 
Colours,  and  the  borders  themselves  were  both  vari- 
able and  undefined. 

And  this  enumeration  of  the  populace  was  not 
complete.  Below  all  four,  that  is  below  the  Sudras, 
we  have  mention  of  other  “low  tribes”  and  “low 
trades”  — hlna-jatiyo  and  hina-sippani.  Among  the 
first  we  are  told  of  workers  in  rushes,  bird-catchers, 
and  cart-makers — aboriginal  tribesmen  who  were 
hereditary  craftsmen  in  these  three  ways.  Among 
the  latter — mat-makers,  barbers,  potters,  weavers, 
and  leather-workers — it  is  implied  that  there  was  no 
hard  and  fast  line,  determined  by  birth.  People 
could,  and  did,  change  their  vocations  by  adopting 
one  or  other  of  these  “ low  trades.”  Thus  at  Jat.  5. 
290,  foil.,  a love-lorn  Kshatriya  works  successively 
(without  any  dishonour  or  penalty)  as  a potter, 
1 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha  i.  14S;  Vin.  II.  4.  160. 


SOCIAL  GRADES 


55 


basket-maker,  reed-worker,  garland-maker,  and  cook. 
Also  at  Jat.  6.  372,  a sett  hi  works  as  a tailor  and  as 
a potter,  and  still  retains  the  respect  of  his  high- 
born relations. 

Finally  we  hear  in  both  Jain  and  Buddhist  books 
of  aboriginal  tribes,  Chandalas  and  Pukkusas,  who 
were  more  despised  even  than  these  low  tribes  and 
trades.1 

Besides  the  above,  who  were  all  freemen,  there 
were  also  slaves  : individuals  had  been  captured  in 
predatory  raids  and  reduced  to  slavery,2  or  had  been 
deprived  of  their  freedom  as  a judicial  punishment 3 ; 
or  had  submitted  to  slavery  of  their  own  accord.4 
Children  born  to  such  slaves  were  also  slaves ; and 
the  emancipation  of  slaves  is  often  referred  to.  But 
we  hear  nothing  of  such  later  developments  of  slav- 
ery as  rendered  the  Greek  mines,  the  Roman  lati- 
f undid,  or  the  plantations  of  Christian  slave-owners, 
scenes  of  misery  and  oppression.  For  the  most 
part  the  slaves  were  household  servants,  and  not 
badly  treated  ; and  their  numbers  seem  to  have 
been  insignificant.6 

Such  were  the  divisions  of  the  people.  The 
three  upper  classes  had  originally  been  one;  for  the 
nobles  and  priests  were  merely  those  members  of 
the  third  class,  the  Vessas,  who  had  raised  them- 
selves into  a higher  social  rank.  And  though  more 
difficult  probably  than  it  had  been,  it  was  still  possi- 
ble for  analogous  changes  to  take  place.  Poor  men 

1 Anguttara.  1.  162.  Jacobi,  Jaina  Sutras , 2.  301. 

* Jat.  4.  220.  4 Vitiaya  Texts , 1.  191  ; Sum.  1.  168. 

3 Jat.  1.  200.  5 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  1.  101. 


56 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


could  become  nobles,  and  both  could  become  brah- 
mins. We  have  numerous  instances  in  the  books, 
some  of  them  unconsciously  preserved  even  in  the 
later  priestly  books  which  are  otherwise  under  the 
spell  of  the  caste  theory.  And  though  each  case  is 
then  referred  to  as  if  it  were  exceptional,  the  fact  no 
less  remains  that  the  line  between  the  “ Colours  ” 
was  not  yet  strictly  drawn.  The  members  of  the 
higher  Colours  were  not  even  all  of  them  white. 
Some,  no  doubt,  of  the  Kshatriyas  were  descended 
from  the  chiefs  and  nobles  of  the  Dravidian  and 
Kolarian  tribes  who  had  preserved,  by  conquest  or 
by  treaty,  their  independence  or  their  social  rank. 
And  others  of  the  same  tribes  were,  from  time  to 
time,  acquiring  political  importance,  and  with  it  an 
entry  into  a higher  social  grade. 

That  there  was  altogether  a much  freer  possibility 
of  change  among  the  social  ranks  than  is  usually 
supposed  is  shown  by  the  following  instances  of  oc- 
cupation 1 : 

1.  A Kshatriya,  a king’s  son,  apprentices  himself 
successively,  in  pursuance  of  a love  affair,  to  a pot- 
ter, a basket-maker,  a florist,  and  a cook,  without  a 
word  being  added  as  to  loss  of  caste  when  his  action 
becomes  known.2 

2.  Another  prince  resigns  his  share  in  the  king- 
dom in  favour  of  his  sister,  and  turns  trader.3 

3.  A third  prince  goes  to  live  with  a merchant  and 
earns  his  living  “ by  his  hands.”  4 

1 Collected  in  the  J.  R.  A.  S.,  1901,  p.  868. 

2 Jat.  1 1.  5.  290. 

3 Jat.  4.  84.  4 Jat.  4.  169. 


SOCIAL  GRADES 


57 


4.  A noble  takes  service,  for  a salary,  as  an 
archer.1 

5.  A brahmin  takes  to  trade  to  make  money  to 
give  away.2 

6.  Two  other  brahmins  live  by  trade  without  any 
such  excuse.3 

7.  A brahmin  takes  the  post  of  an  assistant  to  an 
archer,  who  had  himself  been  previously  a weaver.4 

8.  9.  Brahmins  live  as  hunters  and  trappers.6 

10.  A brahmin  is  a wheelwright.0 

Brahmins  are  also  frequently  mentioned  as  en- 
gaged in  agriculture,  and  as  hiring  themselves  out  as 
cowherds  and  even  goatherds.  These  are  all  in- 
stances from  the  Jatakas.  And  a fortiori — un- 
less it  be  maintained  that  Buddhism  brought  about 
a great  change  in  this  respect  — the  state  of  things 
must  have  been  even  more  lax  at  the  time  when 
Buddhism  arose. 

The  customs  of  connubium  were  by  no  means  co- 
extensive with  the  four  Colours.  They  depended 
among  the  Aryans  on  a quite  different  idea,  that  of 
the  group  of  agnates  (the  Gotta);  and  among  the 
other  people  either  on  the  tribe,  or  on  the  village. 
No  instance  is  known  of  the  two  parties  to  a mar- 
riage belonging  by  birth  to  the  same  village.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  were  numerous  instances  of 
irregular  unions.  And  in  some  cases  the  offspring 
of  such  unions  took  rank  even  as  nobles  (Ksha- 
triyas)  or  as  brahmins.7 

1 Jat.  2.  87.  2Jat.  4.  15.  3 Jat.  5.  22  ; 471. 

4 Jat.  5.  127.  6 Jat.  2.  200  ; 6.  170.  6 Jat.  4.  207. 

1 Jat.  4.  38,  146,  305  ; 6.  348,421. 


58 


BUDDIIIST  INDIA 


As  to  customs  of  eating  or  not  eating  together, 
the  books  contain  only  a few  hints.  We  have  clear 
instances  of  a brahmin  eating  with  a Kshatriya,5  an- 
other of  a brahmin  eating  the  food  of  a Chandala, 
and  repenting  of  doing  so.3  The  whole  episode  of 
the  marriage  of  the  Sakiya  maiden  to  Pasenadi,  King 
of  Kosala,  turns  on  the  belief  that  a Kshatriya  will 
not  eat,  even  with  his  own  daughter,  if  she  be  slave- 
born.  And  we  hear  of  sending  people  to  Coventry 
(as  we  should  say)  for  breach  of  such  customs. 
Thus  at  J.  4.  388,  brahmins  are  deprived,  by  their 
brother  brahmins,  of  their  status  as  brahmins,  for 
drinking  water  mixed  with  the  rice  water  a Chandala 
had  used.  And  in  an  older  document,  one  of  the 
Dialogues,  we  are  told  how  this  was  done.  Three 
brahmins  “ for  some  offence  or  other,  outlaw  a 
brahmin,  shaving  him  and  cutting  him  dead  by 
pouring  ashes  over  him,  thus  banishing  him  from 
the  land  and  from  the  township.”3  And  the  passage 
goes  on  to  state  that  if  Kshatriyas  had  done  this  to 
a Kshatriya  the  brahmins  would  still  admit  him  to 
connubium,  and  allow  him  to  eat  with  them  at  their 
sacred  feasts.  It  then  adds  that  “ whosoever  are  in 
bondage  to  the  notions  of  birth  or  of  lineage,  or  to 
the  pride  of  social  position  or  connection  by  mar- 
riage, they  are  far  from  the  best  wisdom  and  right- 
eousness.” We  see,  therefore,  that  the  whole 
passage  is  tinged  with  Buddhist  views.  But  it  is 
none  the  less  good  evidence  that  at  the  time  when 
it  was  written  such  customs,  and  such  pride  of  birth, 

1 Jat.  2.  319,  320.  The  verses  recur  3.  81,  355.  So  also  6.  33. 

sJat.  2.  82.  3 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  1.  120. 


SOCIAL  GRADES 


59 


were  recognised  as  a factor  in  the  social  life  of  the 
people. 

Again  at  Jat.  5.  280,  we  have,  as  the  central  in- 
cident of  a popular  story,  the  detail,  given  quite  as 
a matter  of  course,  that  a brahmin  takes,  as  his  only 
wife,  the  discarded  consort  of  a Kshatriya.  The 
people  laugh  at  him,  it  is  true,  but  not  because  he 
is  acting  in  any  way  unworthy  of  his  social  stand- 
ing, only  because  he  is  old  and  ugly. 

There  are  also  numerous  instances,  even  in  the 
priestly  manuals  of  custom,  of  unions  between  men 
and  women  of  all  degrees  of  social  importance. 
These  are  not  only  between  men  of  rank  and  girls 
of  a lower  social  grade,  but  also  between  men  of  a 
lower,  and  women  of  a higher,  position ; and  we 
ought  not  to  be  in  the  least  surprised  to  find  such 
cases  mentioned  in  the  books.  Even  without  them 
we  should  know,  from  the  existing  facts,  what  must 
have  happened.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  there 
are  now  no  pure  Aryans  left  in  India.  Had  the 
actual  custom  been  as  strict  as  the  brahmin  theory 
this  would  not  be  so.  Just  as  in  England  we  find 
Iberians,  Kelts,  Angles,  Saxons,  Danes,  and  Nor- 
mans now  fused,  in  spite  of  theoretical  restrictions 
on  intermarriage,  into  one  nation,  so  in  Northern 
India  the  ancient  distinctions,  Aryan,  Kolarian,  and 
Dravidian,  cannot,  at  the  time  of  the  rise  of  Buddh- 
ism, any  longer  be  recognised.  Long  before  the 
priestly  theory  of  caste  had  been  brought  into  any 
sort  of  working  order,  a fusion,  sufficient  at  least  to 
obliterate  completely  the  old  landmarks,  was  an  ac- 
complished fact ; and  the  modern  divisions,  though 


6o 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


race  has  also  its  share  in  them,  use  different  names, 
and  are  based  on  different  ideas. 

We  may  remark  incidentally  that  there  can  have 
been  no  such  physical  repulsion  as  obtains  between 
the  advanced  and  savage  races  of  to-day — a repul- 
sion arising  partly  from  great  difference  in  customs 
and  in  intellectual  culture,  but  still  more  largely 
dependent  on  difference  of  colour.1  On  the  other 
hand,  though  the  fact  of  frequent  intermarriage  is 
undoubted  ; though  the  great  chasm  between  the 
proudest  Kshatriya  on  the  one  hand  and  the  lowest 
Chandala  on  the  other  was  bridged  over  by  a num- 
ber of  almost  imperceptible  stages,  and  the  bound- 
aries between  these  stages  were  constantly  being 
overstepped,  still  there  were  also  real  obstacles  to 
unequal  unions.  Though  the  lines  of  demarcation 
were  not  yet  drawn  hard  and  fast,  we  still  have  to 
suppose,  not  a state  of  society  where  there  were  no 
lines  of  demarcation  at  all,  but  a constant  struggle 
between  attracting  and  repelling  forces. 

It  will  sound  most  amazing  to  those  familiar  with 
brahmin  pretensions  (either  in  modern  times  in  In- 
dia, or  in  priestly  books  such  as  Manu  and  the 
epics)  to  hear  brahmins  spoken  of  as  “low-born.” 
Yet  that  precisely  is  an  epithet  applied  to  them  in 
comparison  with  the  kings  and  nobles.2  And  it 
ought  to  open  our  eyes  as  to  their  relative  import- 
ance in  these  early  times. 

The  fact  is  that  the  claim  of  the  priests  to  social 

1 See  the  discussion  in  Bryce’s  Romanes  Lecture,  igo2,  on  the 
“ Relations  of  Advanced  and  Backward  Races  of  Mankind.” 

- Hlna-jacco.  See,  for  instance,  Jat.  5.  257.  The  locus  is  Benares. 


SOCIAL  GRADES 


6 1 


superiority  had  nowhere  in  North  India  been  then, 
as  yet,  accepted  by  the  people.  Even  such  books 
of  the  priests  themselves  as  are  pre-Buddhistic  im- 
ply this  earlier,  and  not  the  later,  state  of  things 
with  which  we  are  so  much  familiar.  They  claim 
for  the  north-western,  as  distinct  from  the  east- 
erly, provinces  a most  strict  adherence  to  ancient 
custom.  The  ideal  land  is,  to  them,  that  of  the 
Kurus  and  Panchalas,  not  that  of  the  Kasis  and 
Kosalas.  But  nowhere  do  they  put  forward  in  their 
earlier  books  those  arrogant  claims,  as  against  the 
Kshatriyas,  which  are  a distinctive  feature  of  the 
later  literature.  The  kings  are  their  patrons  to 
whom  they  look  up,  from  whom  they  hope  to  re- 
ceive approval  and  rewards.  And  it  was  not  till  the 
time  we  are  now  discussing  that  they  put  forward 
claims,  which  we  find  still  vigorously  disputed  by  all 
Kshatriyas  — and  by  no  means  only  by  those  of  no- 
ble birth  (a  small  minority  of  the  whole)  who  hap- 
pen also  to  be  Buddhists. 

We  find,  for  instance,  that  the  Jain  books  take  it 
throughout  as  a matter  of  course,  that  the  priests, 
as  regards  social  standing,  are  below  the  nobles. 
This  was  the  natural  relation  between  the  two.  as 
we  find  throughout  the  world.  Certain  priests,  in 
India  as  elsewhere,  had  very  high  social  rank  — Pok- 
kharasadi  and  Sonadanda  for  instance.  They  were 
somewhat  like  the  great  abbots  and  bishops  in  our 
Middle  Ages.  But  as  a class,  and  as  a whole,  the 
priests  looked  up  to  the  nobles,  and  were  considered 
to  be  socially  beneath  them. 

Restrictions  as  to  marriage  and  as  to  eating 


62 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


together,  such  as  then  existed  in  North  India,  existed 
also  everywhere  throughout  the  world,  among  peo- 
ples of  a similar  stage  of  culture.  They  are,  it  is 
true,  the  key  to  the  origin  of  the  later  Indian  caste 
system.  But  that  system  involves  much  more  than 
these  restrictions.  And  it  is  no  more  accurate  to 
speak  of  caste  at  the  Buddha’s  time  in  India,  than 
it  would  be  to  speak  of  it  as  an  established  institu- 
tion, at  the  same  time,  in  Italy  or  Greece.  There  is 
no  word  even  for  caste.  The  words  often  wrongly 
rendered  by  that  modern  expression  (itself  derived 
from  a Portuguese  word)  have  something  to  do  with 
the  question,  but  do  not  mean  caste.  The  Colours 
( Vannd ) were  not  castes.  No  one  of  them  had  any 
of  the  distinctive  marks  of  a caste,  as  the  term  is 
now  used,  and  as  it  always  has  been  used  since  it 
was  first  introduced  by  Europeans,  and  there  was 
neither  connubium  nor  commensality  between  the 
members  of  each.  Jdti  is  “ birth  ” ; and  pride  of 
birth  may  have  had  to  do  with  the  subsequent  build- 
ing up  of  caste  prejudices  ; but  it  exists  in  Europe  to- 
day, and  is  an  idea  very  different  from  that  of  caste. 
Kula  is  “ family  ” or  “ clan  ” according  to  the  context. 
And  though  the  mediaeval  caste  system  had  much 
to  do  with  families  and  clans,  it  is  only  misleading  to 
confuse  terms  which  are  so  essentially  different,  or  to 
read  back  a mediaeval  idea  into  these  ancient  docu- 
ments. The  caste  system,  in  any  proper  or  exact  use 
of  the  term,  did  not  exist  till  long  afterwards.1 

1 For  the  discussion  of  this  question  see  also  Senart,  Les  Caste’s  Ians 
Tlnde;  Fick,  Sociale  Gliederung  imnorddstlichen  Itidien  zu  Buddha's 
Zeit;  and  Rhys  Davids,  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , i.  95-107. 


CHAPTER  V 
IN  THE  TOWN 

WE  have,  unfortunately,  no  detailed  description 
of  the  outward  appearance  of  an  ancient 
city.  We  are  told  of  lofty  walls,  and  strong  ram- 
parts with  buttresses  and  watch-towers  and  great 
gates  ; the  whole  surrounded  by  a moat  or  even  a 
double  moat,  one  of  water  and  one  of  mud.  In  a 
bas-relief  on  the  Sanchi  tope,  dating  from  the  second 
or  perhaps  the  third  century  B.C.,  we  have  a repre- 
sentation of  such  city  walls,  and  it  is  very  probable 
that  in  earlier  times  the  fortifications  were  often 
similar  in  kind.  But  we  are  nowhere  told  of  the 
length  of  the  fortifications  or  of  the  extent  of  the 
space  they  enclosed.  It  would  seem  that  we  have  to 
think,  not  so  much  of  a large  walled  city,  as  of  a fort 
surrounded  by  a number  of  suburbs.  For  there  is 
frequent  mention  of  the  king,  or  a high  official,  going 
out  of  the  city  when  he  wants  to  take  an  afternoon’s 
pleasure  jaunt.  And  from  the  equally  frequent  men- 
tion of  the  windows  of  the  great  houses  opening 
directly  on  to  the  streets  or  squares,  it  would  appear 
that  it  was  not  the  custom  to  have  them  surrounded 


63 


64 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


by  any  private  grounds.  There  were,  however,  no 
doubt,  enclosed  spaces  behind  the  fronts  of  the 
houses,  which  latter  abutted  on  the  streets. 


Fig.  3. — KING  AND  QUEENS  WATCHING  A PROCESSION  AS  IT  LEAVES 
A FORT. 

[From  the  Sanchi  Tope.] 


We  have  several  descriptions  of  the  building  of  a 
house,  showing  the  materials  used,  and  we  have  bas- 


Fig.  4.  — FACADE  OF  MANSION. 
[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxxi.] 


66 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


reliefs  showing  the  general  design  of  the  frontage. 
The  elaborate  description  of  the  underground  palace, 
a sort  of  Welbeck  Abbey  of  ancient  days,  constructed 
by  Mahosadha  in  his  famous  tunnel,  is  full  of  points 
of  interest  in  this  connection.'  And  the  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  residences  of  members  of  the  Order 
given  in  Vinaya  Texts  (3.  96,  104-1 15,  160- 180)  goes 
farther  into  minute  details  of  the  construction  and 
ornamentation  of  the  various  portions  of  a human 
habitation.  Then  we  have  descriptions  and  bas- 
reliefs  of  the  palace  of  the  gods.  And  as  gods  are 
made  in  imitation  of  men,  these  are  fair  evidence  also 
of  the  buildings  in  use  by  men  at  the  time  when  the 
books  were  written,  or  the  sculptures  made.  We 
have  no  space  to  enter  fully  into  detail  here.  But 
the  annexed  illustration  shows  the  ideas  of  a sculptor 
on  the  Bharahat  tope  as  to  the  facade  of  a mansion, 
and  the  next  shows  his  notion  of  what  the  meeting- 
hall  of  the  gods,  part  of  Vejayanta,  the  palace  in 
heaven,  was  like.” 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  from  these  illustrations 
whether  the  pillars  and  railings  depicted  are  intended 
to  represent  woodwork,  or  stone  carved  in  imitation 
of  wood.  I am  inclined  to  think  the  latter  is  meant. 
If  so,  that  would  show  that  in  the  third  century  B.C. 
(the  date  of  the  bas-reliefs),  stone  was  already  much 
used.  We  have  an  extant  example  of  stone  walls 
surrounding  a hill  fortress  before  the  sixth  century 
B.C.  (at  Giribbaja,  see  above,  p.  37).  But  in  the 

1 Jat.  6.  430  ; translated  in  Yatawara’s  Ummagga  ydtaka. 

2 These  gods  must  have  been  made  by  the  clansmen  in  the  free  re- 
publics, or  they  would  not  have  had  a mote-hall. 


Fig.  5. — SUDHAMMO;  THF.  MOTE-HALI.  OF  THE  GODS. 
[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xvi.] 


67 


68 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


books  referring  to  this  earlier  period,  there  is  no 
mention  of  stone  except  for  pillars  or  staircases. 
A palace  of  stone  is  only  once  mentioned,  and 
that  is  in  fairy  land.1  We  must  suppose  that  in 
earlier  times  the  superstructure  at  least,  of  all 
dwellings  was  either  of  woodwork  or  brickwork. 
In  either  case  it  was  often  covered,  both  internally 
and  externally,  with  fine  chunam  plaster-work,  and 
brilliantly  painted,  in  fresco,  with  figures  or  patterns. 
Elaborate  directions  are  given  in  the  Vinaya3  for 
the  construction  of  this  smooth  plaster  basis  on 
which  the  frescoes  were  painted.  And  the  names 
of  four  of  the  commoner  patterns  have  been  pre- 
served.3 They  are  Wreath-work,  Creeper-work, 
Five-ribbon-work,  and  Dragon’s-tooth-work.  When 
figures  predominated  the  result  is  often  called  a 
picture-gallery  ( cittdgara ).  And  though  we  cannot 
suppose  that  the  art  had  reached  the  perfection 
afterwards  attained  in  the  Ajanta  frescoes,  the  de- 
scriptions show  that  it  had  already  advanced  to  a 
stage  far  removed  from  the  early  beginnings  of  pic- 
torial ornamentation. 

The  entrance  to  the  great  houses  was  through 
a large  gateway.  To  the  right  and  left  of  the  en- 
trance passage  were  the  treasury  and  grain  stores. 
The  gateway  led  into  an  inner  courtyard  round 
which  were  chambers  on  the  ground-floor.  And 
above  these  chambers  was  a flat  roof  called  the  up- 
ari-pasada-tala,  the  upper  flat  surface  of  the  house, 
where  the  owner  sat,  usually  under  a pavilion,  which 

1 Jat.  6.  269.  2 Translated  in  Vinaya  Texts , 3.  170-172. 

3 Vin.  2.  67  ; 4.  47. 


Fig.  6. — ancient  open-air  bath  at  anuradhapura  (No.  i). 


70 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


answered  the  purpose  at  once  of  a drawing-room,  an 
office,  and  a dining-hall. 

In  the  king’s  palace  there  was  accommodation  also 
for  all  the  business  of  the  State,  and  for  the  numer- 
ous retinue  and  the  extensive  harem.  We  hear  of 
no  offices,  in  which  the  business  of  the  nation  could 
be  carried  on,  outside  the  palace.  And  the  supple- 
mentary buildings  included  three  institutions  which 
are  strange  to  us,  and  of  considerable  historical  in- 
terest. 

We  are  told  several  times  of  a building  of  seven 
stories  in  height — a saita-bhiiviaka-fasada.'  No  one 
of  these  has  survived  in  India.  But  there  is  one  of 
later  date  still  standing  at  Pulasti-pura  in  Ceylon; 
and  the  thousand  stone  pillars  on  which  another  was 
erected  in  the  second  century  B.C.  at  Anuradhapura 
form  one  of  the  most  interesting  monuments  of  the 
same  island.2  It  seems  almost  impossible  to  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  these  curious  buildings  were  not 
entirely  without  connection  with  the  seven-storied 
Ziggarats  which  were  so  striking  a feature  among 
the  buildings  of  Chaldaea.  We  know  in  other  ways 
of  connections  between  the  civilisation  of  the  Ganges 
Valley  and  that  of  Mesopotamia;  and  it  would  seem 
that  in  this  case  also  the  Indians  were  borrowers  of 
an  idea.  But  in  India  the  use  to  which  such  seven- 
storied palaces  was  put  was  entirely  private,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  any  worship  of  the  stars. 

We  hear  in  several  places  that  a public  gambling 

' Jat.  i.  227,  346  ; 4.  37S  : 5.  52.  426  ; 6.  577,  etc. 

5 This  illustration  (see  Fig.  9)  from  Mr.  Cave's  Ruined  Cities  of 
Ceylon  (Plate  XIII.).  This  beautiful  volume  ought  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  every  Indian  archaeologist. 


Fig.  7. — ANCIENT  OrEN-AIR  BATH  AT  ANURADHAPURA  (No.  2). 


72 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


hall  formed  an  ordinary  part  of  a king’s  palace, 
either  separately  or  as  part  of  a great  reception 
hall.  It  was  especially  laid  down  in  Apastamba, 
ii.  25,  that  it  is  the  king’s  duty  to  provide  such  a 
place ; and  later  law  books  disclose  a custom  by  which 


Fig.  8. — old  Indian  scrollwork. 

a share  of  the  winnings  went  to  the  treasury.  The 
gambling  was  with  dice  on  a board  with  thirty-six 
squares;  and  the  best  description  of  the  game,  the 
details  of  which  are  very  obscure,  is  at  Jataka,  vi. 
28 1.1  There  is  a curious  old  bas-relief  in  which 


Comp.  1.  290  ; 3.  91. 


Fig.  9. — A ZIGGARAT. 
[From  Ragozin’s  Story  of  C/ialdea.\ 


73 


74 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


such  a gambling  saloon  in  the  open  air  is  repre- 
sented with  a split  in  the  rock  on  which  the  gamblers 
are  playing.  The  point  of  the  story  is  evidently  the 
splitting  of  the  rock,  which  is  not  accidental,  but  fully 
intended  by  the  sculptor.  But  we  can  only  conjec- 
ture what  it  means,  as  the  story  has  not  yet  been 
found  elsewhere.  (Fig.  II.) 

Another  sort  of  building  historically  interesting 
were  the  hot-air  baths,  described  in  full  in  Vinaya 
Texts , iii.  105-110,  297.  They  were  built  on  an  ele- 
vated basement  faced  with  brick  or  stone,  with  stone 
stairs  up  to  it,  and  a railing  round  the  verandah. 
The  roof  and  walls  were  of  wood,  covered  first  with 
skins,  and  then  with  plaster  ; the  lower  part  only  of 
the  wall  being  faced  with  bricks.  There  was  an  an- 
techamber, and  a hot  room,  and  a pool  to  bathe  in. 
Seats  were  arranged  round  a fireplace  in  the  middle 
of  the  hot  room  ; and  to  induce  perspiration  hot  water 
was  poured  over  the  bathers,  whose  faces  were  covered 
with  scented  cliunam  (fine  chalk).  After  the  bath 
there  was  shampooing,  and  then  a plunge  into  the 
pool.  It  is  very  curious  to  find  at  this  very  early 
date  in  the  Ganges  Valley  a sort  of  bathing  so  closely 
resembling  our  modern  so-called  “Turkish  Baths.” 
Did  the  Turks  derive  this  custom  from  India? 

In  another  of  our  oldest  documents,  the  Dlgha 
Nikaya,  there  is  a description  of  another  sort  of 
bath,  an  open-air  bathing  tank,  with  flights  of  steps 
leading  down  to  it,1  faced  entirely  of  stone,  and  orna- 
mented both  with  flowers  and  carvings.  These 
bathing  places  must  have  been  beautiful  objects  in  the 
1 See  the  translation  in  my  Buddhist  Su/tas,  pp.  262,  foil. 


Fig.  io.— the  thousand  pillars,  ruins  of  the  foundation  of  the  seven-storied, 

GREAT  BRAZEN  PALACE  AT  ANURADHAPURA. 

[From  Cave’s  Ruined  Cities  of  Ceylon.] 


76 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


private  grounds  of  the  rich.  Several  very  ancient 
ones  are  still  to  be  seen  at  Anuradhapura  in  a fair 
state  of  preservation  in  spite  of  the  more  than  two 
thousand  years  that  have  elapsed  since  they  were 
first  constructed. 

In  the  illustration  of  the  first  of  these  two  bathing 
ponds,  the  platform,  which  appears  as  if  built  out 
into  the  pond,  was,  no  doubt,  the  basement  of  a 
dressing  pavilion  supported  on  wooden  pillars.  It 
will  be  observed  that  it  was  cooled,  in  its  turn,  by  a 
special  little  pond  constructed  to  fill  up  one  side  of 
the  platform.  In  the  other  illustration  the  pediments 
to  support  a canopy  or  awning  over  the  steps  leading 
down  into  the  bath  are  still  perceptible.  (Fig.  7.) 

One  other  detail  of  these  ancient  buildings,  espe- 
cially noticed  by  Buddhaghosa  in  his  enumeration  of 
the  parts  of  a palace  in  olden  times,1  is  the  curious 
scroll  work  or  string  course  in  common  use  as  exte- 
rior decoration.  The  details  differ;  so  also  do  the 
materials  used  ; they  are  usually  wood  or  plaster, 
but  occasionally  stone,  as  in  the  annexed  examples 
from  the  Bharhut  Tope.  (Figs.  8,  1 r,  12.) 

But  the  great  houses  must  have  been  few  in  num- 
ber. There  was  probably  a tangle  of  narrow  and 
evil-smelling  streets  of  one-storied  wattle  and  daub 
huts  with  thatched  roofs,  the  meagre  dwelling-places 
of  the  poor.  And  we  must  imagine  long  lines  of 
bazaars,  the  shops  (without  windows,  of  course,  and 
indeed  with  very  little  wall  on  that  side)  open  to  the 
streets,  and  mostly  devoted,  in  the  same  street,  to 
the  sale  of  wares  of  a similar  kind. 

1 Attha  SalinI,  p.  107. 


■the  split  rock,  gambling  scene  from  the  bharahat  tope. 


73 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Crowded  the  city  must  have  been,  and  noisy.  The 
oldest  records  boast  of  the  fact,1  and  we  are  not  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  a corner  house,  abutting  on  two 
streets,  was  highly  prized.2  But  the  size  of  the  few 
large  cities  is  represented  as  so  large,  including  the 
suburbs,  that  the  crowding  and  noise  were  less  prob- 
ably in  those  days,  at  least  outside  the  fortifications, 
than  they  are  now. 

So  far  as  the  records  at  present  show  there  seem 
to  have  been  few  sanitary  arrangements.  There  is 
constant  mention  of  drains;  but  they  are  for  water 
only — either  small  ones  to  carry  off  the  water  from  a 
bathroom  or  a chamber,3  or  large  ones  to  carry  off  the 
rain  from  within  the  fortifications.  It  was  through 
these  last  that  dogs4  and  jackals6  got  into  the 
citadel ; and  sometimes  even  men  used  them  as 
means  of  escape,  at  night,  when  the  gates  were 
closed."  It  is  not  likely  that  they  at  all  corresponded, 
therefore,  to  the  Roman  cloaca.  On  the  other 
hand  the  at  present  obscure  arrangements  to  obviate 
the  various  sanitary  difficulties  arising  from  the 
living  together  of  a number  of  members  of  the 
Order7  render  it  probable  that  in  the  palaces  and 
larger  mansions,  at  least  similar  arrangements  may 
have  been  in  use. 

The  disposal  of  the  dead  was,  in  some  respects, 
very  curious.  Deceased  persons  of  distinction, 
either  by  birth  or  wealth  or  official  position,  or  as 

1 Rh.  D.  Buddhist  Suttas , 24S,  249. 

2 Jat.  5-350.  6 Jat.  1.  425  ; 3.  415. 

3Vinaya  Texts,  3.  108,  no.  6 Jat.  1.  409,  489. 

4 Jat.  1.  175.  1 Vinaya  Texts,  3.  155,  298. 


[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xliii.] 


8o 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


public  teachers,  were  cremated ; and  the  ashes 
were  buried  under  a so-called  tope  (in  Pali  thlipa, 
in  Buddhist  Sanskrit  stupa).  But  the  dead  bodies 
of  ordinary  people  were  disposed  of  in  a unique  way. 
They  were  put  away  in  a public  place  ( sivathikd  or 
dinaka-susa?ia,  both  of  which,  for  want  of  a better 
word,  are  usually  translated  cemetery).  There,  as  a 
rule,  the  bodies,  or  the  remains  of  the  pyre,  were 
not  buried,  but  left  to  be  destroyed  by  birds  or 
beasts,  or  dissipated  by  the  process  of  natural  decay.1 
This  spot  was  also  used  as  the  public  place  of  execu- 
tion especially  by  impalement.2  It  was  quite  open 
to  the  public.  But  as  we  can  readily  understand,  it 
was  believed  to  be  haunted  ; and  was  only  frequented 
by  the  more  austere  sort  of  ascetics. 

Sometimes  Dagabas  or  topes  were  erected  in 
these  cemeteries.3  But  more  usually  they  were 
put  up  in  the  suburbs,  either  in  private  grounds,4  or, 
in  cases  of  special  honour,  at  some  place  where  four 
cross-roads  met.3  VVe  are  accustomed  to  think  of 
them  as  especially  Buddhist  monuments.  They 
were,  in  fact,  pre-Buddhistic ; and  indeed  only  a 
slight  modification  of  a world-wide  custom.  The 
use  of  barrows  or  cairns  to  mark  a place  of  interment 
was  not  universal;  but  it  was  certainly  very  frequent 
in  ancient  times.  And  marked  differences  in  their 
shape  or  size  is  rightly  held  to  be  evidence  of  race. 
The  Aryans  in  India  still  used  the  round  form.  And 
the  only  curious  point  is  that,  in  India,  at  the 
period  under  discussion,  certain  sections  of  the 

1 D.  2.  295-297  ; Jat.  1.  264  ; 3.  330  ; 5.  458.  2 Jat.  4.  29  ; 6.  10. 

3 Vin.  4.  308.  4 Jat.  3.  155.  5 Buddhist  Suttas , 93. 


N*>Fi7H 


v & j£ 


\ 


Fig.  13. — ground  plan  and  restoration  of  the  bharahat 
stTTpa. 

[From  Cunningham’s  Stupa  of  Bharhut.  PI.  iii.] 


6 


81 


*2 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


community  were  beginning  to  make  them  solid 
brick  structures  instead  of  heaps  of  earth,  or  of  stones 
covered  with  earth,  as  had  been  the  custom  in  more 
ancient  times.1  This  was  done  more  especially  by 
those  who  had  thrown  off  their  allegiance  to  the 
priests,  and  were  desirous  to  honour  the  memory  of 
their  teachers,  who  were  leaders  of  thought,  or 
reformers,  or  philosophers.  And  whether  we  agree, 
or  not,  with  the  opinions  these  thinkers  put  forth, 
we  must  acknowledge  the  very  great  interest,  from 
the  historical  point  of  view,  of  the  fact  that  the  only 
monuments  of  the  kind  yet  discovered  were  built 
out  of  reverence,  not  for  kings  or  chiefs  or  warriors 
or  politicians  or  wealthy  benefactors,  but  precisely 
for  such  thinkers,  who  propounded  fresh  solutions 
of  the  problems  of  life.  We  need  not  be  surprised, 
therefore,  to  learn  that  the  priestly  records  carefully 
ignore  these  topes. 

The  first  step  was  probably  merely  to  build  the 
cairn  more  carefully  than  usual,  with  stones,  and  to 
cover  the  outside  with  fine  chunam  plaster  (in  the 
use  of  which  the  Indians  were  adepts)  to  give  a 
marble-like  surface.  The  next  step  was  to  build  the 
cairn  of  concentric  layers  of  the  huge  bricks  in  use  at 
the  time,  and  to  surround  the  whole  with  a wooden 
railing.  None  of  the  most  ancient  have  survived,  or 
been  explored  sufficiently  to  enable  a restoration  to 
be  drawn.  But  we  can  tell  very  much  about  what 
they  were  from  the  later  examples.  This,  for 
instance,  is  Cunningham’s  plan  and  restoration  of  the 
famous  Bharahat  Stupa. 

1 White  Yajur  Veda,  chap.  35. 


IN  THE  TOWN 


83 


And  among  the  bas-reliefs  carved  on  the  stone 
railing  are  several  topes  as  the  sculptor  of  the  day 
imagined  they  ought  to  be. 

We  should  notice  however  in  the  first  of  these 
carvings,  designed  to  fill  up  the  post  of  a stone 
railing,  that  the  artist,  in  order  to  fill  up  the  tall  and 


mr 


Fig.  14. — RESTORATION  (by  w.  simpson)  of  the  ahin  posh  tope. 

[From  the  Proceedings  of  the  R.  I.  B.  A.] 

narrow  space  he  has  to  deal  with,  has  allowed  him- 
self to  give  a disproportionate  height  to  the  orna- 
mentation at  the  top  of  the  dome. 

Even  in  the  Buddha’s  time  the  size  of  these 
monuments  had  already  reached  very  considerable 
dimensions.  The  solid  dome  erected  by  the  Sakiyas 
over  their  share  of  the  ashes  from  the  Buddha’s 
funeral  pyre  must  have  been  about  the  same  height 


84 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


as  the  dome  ot  St.  Paul’s,  measured  from  the  roof.1 
And  it  is  that  dome,  as  seen  from  Waterloo  Bridge, 
where  the  intervening  houses  hide  the  view  of  the 


Fig.  15. — a STurA  as  carved  on  the  bas-reliefs. 

[From  Cunningham’s  Stii/>a  of  Bharhut.  PI.  xxxi.] 


church,  and  only  the  beautiful  outline  of  the  dome 
itself  is  seen  against  the  sky,  which  gives  to  those 
who  have  never  seen  them  the  best  idea  of  what 
these  domes  must  have  been.  Unfortunately  no  one 

1 See  Mr.  Peppe’s  measurements  in  the  J.  R.  A.  S.  for  1898. 
The  present  state  of  the  ruins  of  this  important  monument  is  shown 
in  the  above  Fig. 


Fig.  16. — the  jetavana  dagaba. 


86 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


has  yet  attempted  to  make  a restoration  of  one  of 
these  of  the  most  ancient  date.  But  Mr.  W.  Simp- 
son has  given  us  one  of  later  date,  and  this  is  here 
appended  for  the  sake  of  comparison. 

The  appearance  of  such  a dagaba  in  the  landscape 
is  also  well  shown  in  the  annexed  plate,  from  Mr. 
Cave’s  Ruined  Cities  of  Ceylon , of  the  Jetavana 
Dagaba.  (Fig.  16.) 

This  dagaba  itself  dates  from  the  third  century 
A.D.,  but  the  large  irrigation  “tank”  shown  in  the 
foreground  is  probably  the  oldest  dated  one  in 
India,  as  it  was  constructed  before  the  time  of  Asoka. 


CHAPTER  VI 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


HERE  has  been  as  yet  no  attempt  to  reconstruct 


i a picture  of  the  economic  conditions  at  any 
period  in  the  early  history  of  India.  Professor  Zim- 
mer, Dr.  Pick,  and  Professor  Hopkins  have  dealt 
incidentally  with  some  of  the  points  on  the  basis 
respectively  of  the  Vedas,  the  Jatakas,  and  the 
Epics.  But  generally  speaking  the  books  on  India 
have  been  so  exclusively  concerned  with  questions 
of  religion  and  philosphy,  of  literature  and  language, 
that  we  seem  apt  to  forget  that  the  very  necessities 
of  life,  here  as  elsewhere,  must  have  led  the  people 
to  occupy  their  time  very  much,  not  to  say  mostly, 
with  other  matters  than  those,  with  the  earning  of 
their  daily  bread,  with  the  accumulation  and  distri- 
bution of  wealth.  The  following  remarks  will  be 
chiefly  based  on  Mrs.  Rhys-Davids’s  articles  on  this 
important  subject  in  the  Economic  Journal , for  1901, 
and  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society , for 
1901.  And  numbers  given  in  this  chapter  as  refer- 
ences, without  letters  referring  to  other  sources,  refer 
to  the  pages  of  the  latter  article. 


88 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


When  the  King  of  Magadha,  the  famous  (and 
infamous)  Ajatasattu,  made  his  only  call  upon 
the  Buddha,  he  is  said  1 to  have  put  a puzzle  to  the 
teacher  to  test  him  — a puzzle  characteristic  of  the 
King’s  state  of  mind.  It  is  this  : 

“ What  in  the  world  is  the  good  of  your  renunciation, 
of  joining  an  Order  like  yours?  Other  people  (and 
here  he  gives  a list),  by  following  ordinary  crafts,  get 
something  out  of  them.  They  can  make  themselves 
comfortable  in  this  world,  and  keep  their  families  in 
comfort.  Can  you,  Sir,  declare  to  me  any  such  imme- 
diate fruit,  visible  in  this  world,  of  the  life  of  a recluse  ? ” 


The  list  referred  to  is  suggestive.  In  the  view  of 
the  King  the  best  examples  of  such  crafts  were  the 
following : 


1.  Elephant-riders. 

2.  Cavalry. 

3.  Charioteers. 

4.  Archers. 

5-13.  Nine  different 
grades  of  army  folk. 

14.  Slaves. 

15.  Cooks. 

16.  Barbers. 


17.  Bath-attendants. 

18.  Confectioners. 

19.  Garland-makers. 

20.  Washermen. 

21.  Weavers. 

22.  Basket-makers. 

23.  Potters. 

24.  Clerks. 

25.  Accountants. 


These  are  just  the  sort  of  people  employed  about 
a camp  or  a palace.  King-like,  the  King  considers 
chiefly  those  who  minister  to  a king,  and  are  depend- 
ent upon  him.  In  the  answer  he  is  most  politely 
reminded  of  the  peasant,  of  the  tax-payer,  on  whom 
both  he  and  his  depended. 

D.  1.  51. 


And  it  is  evident  enough 


Fig.  17. — SPECIMENS  OF  ancient  jewelry  found  in  the  sakiya 

TOPE. 

[From  y.  R.  A.  S i8q8.] 

89 


90 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


from  other  passages  that  the  King’s  list  is  far  from 
exhaustive.  There  is  mention,  in  other  documents 
of  the  same  age,  of  guilds  of  work-people;  and  the 
number  of  these  guilds  is  often  given  afterwards  as 
eighteen.  Four  of  these  are  mentioned  by  name.1 
But  a list  of  the  whole  eighteen  has  unfortunately 
not  yet  been  found.  It  would  probably  have  in- 
cluded the  following: 

1.  The  workers  in  wood.  They  were  not  only 
carpenters  and  cabinet-makers,  but  also  wheel- 
wrights; and  the  builders  of  houses,  and  of  ships, 
and  of  vehicles  of  all  sorts  (863). 

2.  The  workers  in  metal.  They  made  any  iron 
implements  — weapons  of  all  kinds,  ploughshares, 
axes,  hoes,  saws,  and  knives.  But  they  also  did 
finer  work — made  needles,  for  instance,  of  great 
lightness  and  sharpness,  or  gold  and  (less  often)  silver 
work  of  great  delicacy  and  beauty  (864). 

3.  The  workers  in  stone.  They  made  flights  of 
steps,  leading  up  into  a house  or  down  into  a reservoir; 
faced  the  reservoir;  laid  foundations  for  the  wood- 
work of  which  the  upper  part  of  the  houses  was 
built;  carved  pillars  and  bas-reliefs;  and  even  did 
finer  work  such  as  making  a crystal  bowl,  or  a stone 
coffer  (864).  Beautiful  examples  of  these  two  last 
were  found  in  the  Sakiya  Tope. 

4.  The  weavers.  They  not  only  made  the  cloths 
which  the  people  wrapped  round  themselves  as  dress, 
but  manufactured  fine  muslin  for  export,  and  worked 
costly  and  dainty  fabrics  of  silk  cloth  and  fur  into 
rugs,  blankets,  coverlets,  and  carpets.2 

1 At  Jat.  6.  427.  ■ D.  1.  7. 


Fig.  18. — old  Indian  girdle  of  jewels. 

[From  the  figure  of  Sirima  Devata  on  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  li.] 


91 


92 


B UDDHIS  T INDIA 


5.  Leather  workers,  who  made  the  numerous  sorts 
of  foot-covering  and  sandals  worn  by  the  people 
mostly  in  cold  weather ; and  also  the  embroidered 


Fig.  19. — OLD  INDIAN  NECKLACES. 

and  costly  articles  of  the  same  kind  mentioned  in  the 
books  (865). 

6.  Potters,  who  made  all  sorts  of  dishes  and  bowls 
for  domestic  use ; and  often  hawked  their  goods 
about  for  sale. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


93 


7.  Ivory  workers,  who  made  a number  of  small 
articles  in  ivory  for  ordinary  use,  and  also  costly 
carvings  and  ornaments  such  as  those  for  which 
India  is  still  famous  (864). 

8.  Dyers,  who  coloured  the  clothes  made  by  the 


OLD  INDIAN  LOCKET.  OLD  INDIAN  EARRING.  OLD  INDIAN  LOCKET. 


reliefs  that  we  know  fairly  well  the  shape  and  size 
of  the  ornaments  they  made. 

10.  The  fisher  folk.  They  fished  only  in  the 
rivers.  There  is  no  mention  of  sea-fishing  known  to 
me. 

11.  The  butchers,  whose  shops  and  slaughter- 
houses are  several  times  mentioned  (873). 

12.  Hunters  and  trappers,  mentioned  in  various 
passages  as  bringing  the  animal  and  vegetable  pro- 
ducts of  the  woods,  and  also  venison  and  game,  for 
sale  on  carts  into  the  city  (873).  It  is  doubtful 
whether  they  were  formed  into  guilds.  But  their  in- 
dustry was  certainly  a very  important  one.  The 


weavers  (864). 


Fig.  20. 


[Size  of  original.] 


94 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


large  stretches  of  forest,  open  to  all,  separating  most 
of  the  settlements  ; the  absence  of  any  custom  of 
breeding  cattle  for  the  meat-market ; the  large  de- 
mand for  ivory,  fur,  sinews,  creepers,  and  all  the 
other  produce  of  the  woods  ; and  the  congeniality  of 
the  occupation,  all  tended  to  encourage  the  hun- 
ters. And  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
very  ancient  instinct  of  the  chase  was  confined  to 
the  so-called  savages.  The  kings  and  nobles  also, 
whether  Aryan  by  blood  or  not,  seem  to  have  taken 
pleasure  in  it,  quite  apart  from  the  economic  ques- 
tion of  food  supply.  But  men  of  good  birth  followed 
it  as  a trade;  and  when  brahmins  did  so  (868)  they 
are  represented  as  doing  so  for  profit. 

13.  The  cooks  and  confectioners,  a numerous  class, 
probably  formed  a guild.  But  there  is  no  passage 
saying  that  they  did. 

14.  The  barbers  and  shampooers  had  their  guilds. 
They  dealt  in  perfumes,  and  were  especially  skilled 
in  arranging  the  elaborate  turbans  worn  by  the 
wealthier  classes.  (Figs.  21,  22.) 

15.  The  garland-makers  and  flower-sellers  (866). 

16.  Sailors,  occupied  for  the  most  part  in  the 
traffic  up  and  down  the  great  rivers,  but  also  going 
to  sea.  In  some  of  our  earliest  documents  1 we  hear 
of  sea  voyages  out  of  sight  of  land  ; and  in  the  later 
documents,  such  as  the  Jatakas,  the  mention  of  such 
voyages  is  frequent  (872).  So  the  earlier  documents 
speak  of  voyages  lasting  six  months  made  in  ships 
( nava , perhaps  “ boats  ”)  which  could  be  drawn  up  on 

1 Dlgha,  1.  222  (translated  in  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , i.  2S3) ; 
Anguttara,  3.  368. 


FlG.  21. — MEDALLION  ON  THE  BHARAHUT  TOPE. 
PI.  xxiv.  Fig.  3. 


95 


96 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


shore  in  the  winter.1  And  later  texts,  of  about  the 
third  century  B.C.,  speak  of  voyages  down  the  Ganges 
from  Benares  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  thence 
across  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  opposite  coast  of 
Burma ; and  even  from  Bharukaccha  (the  modern 
Baroch)  round  Cape  Comorin  to  the  same  destination 
(871).  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  during  the  whole 
of  this  period  the  occupation  of  sailor  was  neither 
unfrequent  nor  unimportant. 

17.  The  rush-workers  and  basket-makers  (868). 

18.  Painters  (865).  They  were  mostly  house- 
painters.  The  woodwork  of  the  houses  was  often 
covered  with  fine  chunam  plaster  and  decorated  with 
painting.  But  they  also  painted  frescoes.2  These 
passages  tell  us  of  pleasure-houses,  adorned  with 
painted  figures  and  patterns,  belonging  to  the  kings 
of  Magadha  and  Kosala  ; and  such  frescoes  were  no 
doubt  similar  in  character  to,  but  of  course  in  an 
earlier  style  than,  the  well-known  ancient  frescoes  of 
the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  A.D.  on  the  Ajanta 
Caves,  and  of  the  fifth  century  on  the  Slgiri  Rock 
in  Ceylon. 

It  is  doubtful  with  regard  to  two  or  three  in  this 
list  whether  they  were  organised  in  guilds  ( scniyo , 
piiga).  But  it  is  certain  that  these  were  among  the 
most  important  branches  of  handicraft  apart  from 
agriculture;  and  most  of  them  had,  no  doubt,  their 
guilds  not  unlike  the  mediaeval  guilds  in  Europe. 
It  is  through  their  guilds  that  the  king  summons  the 
people  on  important  occasions  (865).  The  Aldermen 

1 Samyutta,  3.  p.  155,  5.  51  ; Anguttara,  4.  127. 

2 Vin.  ii.  151  ; iv.  47,  61,  298  ; Sum.  42,  84. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


97 


or  Presidents  (jetthaka  or  paniuklia)  of  such  guilds 
are  sometimes  described  as  quite  important  persons, 
wealthy,  favourites  at  the  court.  The  guilds  are  said 
to  have  had  powers  of  arbitration  between  the  mem- 


Fig.  22. — ANCIENT  INDIAN  HEAD-DRESS. 

[From  a medallion  on  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxiv.  Fig.  2.] 

bers  of  the  guild  and  their  wives.  And  disputes 
between  one  guild  and  another  were  in  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  maha-setthi,  the  Lord  High  Treasurer, 
who  acted  as  a sort  of  chief  Alderman  over  the 
Aldermen  of  the  guilds  (865). 


98 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Besides  the  peasantry  and  the  handicraftsmen 
there  were  merchants  who  conveyed  their  goods 
either  up  and  down  the  great  rivers,  or  along  the 
coasts  in  boats;  or  right  across  country  in  carts 
travelling  in  caravans.  These  caravans,  long  lines 
of  small  two-wheeled  carts,  each  drawn  by  two  bul- 
locks, were  a distinctive  feature  of  the  times.1  There 
were  no  made  roads  and  no  bridges.  The  carts 
struggled  along,  slowly,  through  the  forests,  along 
the  tracks  from  village  to  village  kept  open  by  the 
peasants.  The  pace  never  exceeded  two  miles  an 
hour.  Smaller  streams  were  crossed  by  gullies  lead- 
ing down  to  fords,  the  larger  ones  by  cart  ferries. 
There  were  taxes  and  octroi  duties  at  each  different 
country  entered  (875);  and  a heavy  item  in  the  cost 
was  the  hire  of  volunteer  police  who  let  themselves 
out  in  bands  to  protect  caravans  against  robbers  on 
the  way  (866).  The  cost  of  such  carriage  must  have 
been  great ; so  great  that  only  the  more  costly  goods 
could  bear  it. 

The  enormous  traffic  of  to-day  in  the  carriage  of 
passengers,  food-stuffs,  and  fuel  was  non-existent. 
Silks,  muslins,  the  finer  sorts  of  cloth  and  cutlery 
and  armour,  brocades,  embroideries  and  rugs,  per- 
fumes and  drugs,  ivory  and  ivory  work,  jewelry  and 

1 The  accompanying  plate  (Fig.  23)  shows,  in  four  scenes  on  the 
same  bas-relief,  Anatha  Pindika’s  famous  gift  of  the  Jetavana  Park 
to  the  Order.  To  the  left  is  the  park,  the  ground  of  which  is  being 
covered  with  Kakapatias.  In  front  is  the  bullock  cart  which  has 
brought  them.  In  the  centre  the  donor  holds  in  his  hand  the  water 
of  donation,  the  pouring  out  of  which  is  to  complete  the  legality  of 
the  gift.  To  the  right  are  the  huts  to  be  afterwards  put  up  in  the 
park  for  the  use  of  the  Wanderers. 


Fig.  23. — anatha  pindika’s  gift  of  the  jetavana  park. 

[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  lxvii.] 

99 


IOO 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


gold  (seldom  silver),  — these  were  the  main  articles 
in  which  the  merchant  dealt. 

The  older  system  of  traffic  by  barter  had  entirely 
passed  away  never  to  return.  The  later  system  of  a 
currency  of  standard  and  token  coins  issued  and 
regulated  by  government  authority  had  not  yet 
arisen.  Transactions  were  carried  on,  values  estim- 
ated, and  bargains  struck  in  terms  of  the  kahapana, 
a square  copper  coin  weighing  about  146  grains,  and 
guaranteed  as  to  weight  and  fineness  by  punch- 
marks  made  by  private  individuals.'  Whether  these 
punch-marks  are  the  tokens  of  merchants,  or  of 
guilds,  or  simply  of  the  bullion  dealer,  is  not  certain 
(874).  (Fig.  24.) 

No  silver  coins  were  used  (877).  There  were  half 
and  quarter  kahapanas,  and  probably  no  other  sort. 
The  references  to  gold  coins  are  late  and  doubtful; 
and  no  such  coins  have  been  found.  Some  thin  gold 
films  with  punch  marks  on  them  were  found  in  the 
Sakiya  Tope,  but  these  are  too  flimsy  to  have  been 
used  in  circulation  as  coins  (878).  It  is  interesting 
to  notice  that  Alexander,  when  in  India,  struck  a 
half  kahapana  copper  piece,  square  (in  imitation  of 
the  Indian  money),  and  not  round  like  the  Greek 
coins  of  the  time. 

It  is  only  in  later  times  that  we  hear  (as  for  in- 
stance in  Manu,  8.  401)  of  any  market  price  being 
fixed  by  government  regulation.  In  the  sixth  cent- 
ury B.C.  there  is  only  an  official  called  the  Valuer, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  settle  the  prices  of  goods 

1 See  Figs.  1,  3,  and  8 in  the  plate  annexed  to  this  chapter  for  ex- 
amples of  these  oldest  Kahapanas. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


IOI 


ordered  for  the  palace — which  is  a very  different 
thing  (875).  And  there  are  many  instances,  inci- 
dentally given,  of  the  prices  of  commodities  fixed, 
at  different  times  and  places,  by  the  haggling  of  the 
market  (875).  These  are  all  collected  together  in 
the  article  referred  to  (at  pp.  882,  foil.);  and  the  gen- 
eral result  seems  to  be  that  though  the  kahapana 
would  be  worth,  at  the  present  value  of  copper,  only 
five  sixths  of  a penny,  its  purchasing  power  then 
was  about  equivalent  to  the  purchasing  power  of 
a shilling  now. 

Besides  the  coins,  there  was  a very  considerable 
use  of  instruments  of  credit.  The  great  merchants 
in  the  few  large  towns  gave  letters  of  credit  on  one 
another.  And  there  is  constant  reference  to  pro- 
missory notes  (879).  The  rates  of  interest  are  un- 
fortunately never  stated.  But  interest  itself  is 
mentioned  very  early  ; and  the  law  books  give  the 
rate  of  interest  current  at  a somewhat  later  date  for 
loans  on  personal  security  as  about  eighteen  per 
cent,  per  annum  (881). 

There  were  no  banking  facilities.  Money  was 
hoarded  either  in  the  house,  or  buried  in  jars  in  the 
ground,  or  deposited  with  a friend,  a written  record 
of  the  transaction  being  kept  (881). 

The  details  of  prices  above  referred  to  enable  us 
to  draw  some  conclusion  as  to  the  spending  power 
of  the  poor,  of  the  man  of  the  middle  classes,  and  of 
the  wealthy  merchants  and  nobles  respectively.  Of 
want,  as  known  in  our  great  cities,  there  is  no  evi- 
dence. It  is  put  down  as  the  direst  misfortune 
known  that  a free  man  had  to  work  for  hire.  And 


102 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


there  was  plenty  of  land  to  be  had  for  the  trouble  of 
clearing  it,  not  far  from  the  settled  districts. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  those  who 
could  be  considered  wealthy  from  the  standards  of 
those  times  (and  of  course  still  more  so  from  our 
own)  was  very  limited.  We  hear  of  about  a score 
of  monarchs,  whose  wealth  consisted  mainly  of  the 
land  tax,  supplemented  by  other  dues  and  perquis- 
ites ; of  a considerable  number  of  wealthy  nobles, 
and  some  priests,  to  whom  grants  had  been  made 
of  the  tithe  arising  out  of  certain  parishes  or  coun- 
ties1 or  who  had  inherited  similar  rights  from  their 
forefathers;  of  about  a dozen  millionaire  merchants 
in  Takkasila,  Savatthi,  Benares,  Rajagaha,  Vesali, 
Kosambi,  and  the  seaports  (882),  and  of  a consid- 
erable number  of  lesser  merchants  and  middlemen, 
all  in  the  few  towns.  But  these  were  the  exceptions. 
There  were  no  landlords.  And  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  were  well-to-do  peasantry,  or  handicrafts- 
men, mostly  with  land  of  their  own,  both  classes 
ruled  over  by  local  headmen  of  their  own  selection. 

Before  closing  this  summary  of  the  most  important 
economic  conditions  in  Northern  India  in  the  sixth 
century  B.C.  it  may  be  well  to  bring  together  the 
few  notices  we  have  in  the  books  about  the  trade 
routes.  There  is  nothing  about  them  in  the  pre- 
Buddhistic  literature.  In  the  oldest  Pali  books  wre 
have  accounts  of  the  journeys  of  the  wandering  teach- 
ers ; and  as,  especially  for  longer  journeys,  they  will 
generally  have  followed  already  established  routes, 
this  is  incidental  evidence  of  such  as  were  then  in 
1 D.  1.  88  ; M.  2.  163,  3.  133  ; S.  82. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


103 


use  by  traders.  Later  on,  we  have  accounts  of 
routes  actually  followed  by  merchants,  either  on 
boats,  or  with  their  caravans  of  bullock  carts.  We 
can  thus  draw  up  provisionally  the  following  list: 

1.  North  to  South-west.  Savatthi  to  Patitthana 
(Paithan)  and  back.  The  principal  stopping  places 
are  given  1 (beginning  from  the  south)  as  Mahissati, 
Ujjeni,  Gonaddha,  Vedisa,  Kosambi,  and  Saketa. 

2.  North  to  South-east.  Savatthi  to  Rajagaha. 
It  is  curious  that  the  route  between  these  two  an- 
cient cities  is  never,  so  far  as  I know,  direct,  but 
always  along  the  foot  of  the  mountains  to  a point 
north  of  Vesali,  and  only  then  turning  south  to  the 
Ganges.  By  taking  this  circuitous  road  the  rivers 
were  crossed  at  places  close  to  the  hills  where  the 
fords  were  more  easy  to  pass.  But  political  consid- 
erations may  also  have  had  their  weight  in  the  origi- 
nal choice  of  this  route,  still  followed  when  they 
were  no  longer  of  much  weight.2  The  stopping 
places  were  (beginning  at  Savatthi),  Setavya,  Kapi- 
lavastu,  Kusinara,  Pava,  Hatthi-gama,  Bhandagama, 
Vesali,  Pataliputta,  and  Nalanda.  The  road  prob- 
ably went  on  to  Gaya,  and  there  met  another  route 
from  the  coast,  possibly  at  Tamralipti,  to  Benares.3 

3.  East  to  West.  The  main  route  was  along  the 
great  rivers,  along  which  boats  plied  for  hire.  We 
even  hear  of  express  boats.  Upwards  the  rivers 
were  used  along  the  Ganges  as  far  west  as  Sahajati,4' 
and  along  the  Jumna  as  far  west  as  Kosambi.5 
Downwards,  in  later  times  at  least,  the  boats  went 

1 In  S.  N.  1011-1013.  3 Vinaya  Texts , i.  Si.  4 Ibid.  3.  401. 

2Sutta  Nipata  loc.  cit.,  and  Dlgha,  2.  5 Ibid.  3.  382. 


104 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


right  down  to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges,  and  thence 
either  across  or  along  the  coast  to  Burma.1  In  the 
early  books  we  hear  only  of  the  traffic  downward  as 
far  as  Magadha,  that  is,  to  take  the  farthest  point, 
Champa.  Upwards  it  went  thence  to  Kosambi, 
where  it  met  the  traffic  from  the  south  (Route  i), 
and  was  continued  by  cart  to  the  south-west  and 
north-west. 

Besides  the  above  we  are  told  of  traders  going 
from  Videha  to  Gandhara,3  from  Magadha  to  Sovlra,3 
from  Bharukaccha  round  the  coast  to  Burma,4  from 
Benares  down  the  river  to  its  mouth  and  thence  on  to 
Burma,5  from  Champa  to  the  same  destination.6  In 
crossing  the  desert  west  of  Rajputana  the  caravans 
are  said 7 to  travel  only  in  the  night,  and  to  be 
guided  by  a “land-pilot,”  who,  just  as  one  does  on 
the  ocean,  kept  the  right  route  by  observing  the 
stars.  The  whole  description  of  this  journey  is  too 
vividly  accurate  to  life  to  be  an  invention.  So  we 
may  accept  it  as  evidence  not  only  that  there  was  a 
trade  route  over  the  desert,  but  also  that  pilots, 
guiding  ships  or  caravans  by  the  stars  only,  were 
well  known. 

In  the  solitary  instance  of  a trading  journey  to 
Babylon  (Baveru)  we  are  told  that  it  was  by  sea, 
but  the  port  of  departure  is  not  mentioned.8  There 
is  one  story,  the  world-wide  story  of  the  Sirens,  who 

1 That  is  at  Thaton,  then  called  Suvanna-bhumi,  the  Gold  Coast. 
See  Dr.  Mabel  Bode  in  the  Sasana  Vatnsa , p.  12. 

2Jat.  3.  365.  4Jat.  3.  188.  6 Ibid.  6.  32-35. 

3V.  V.  A.  370.  5 Ibid.  4.  15-17.  1 1bid . I.  108. 

8 Ibid.  3.  126.  Has  the  foreign  country  called  Seruma  (Jat.  3. 
189)  any  connection  with  Sumer  or  the  land  of  Akkad  ? 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


105 


are  located  in  Tambapanni-dfpa,  a sort  of  fairy  land, 
which  is  probably  meant  for  Ceylon.1  Lanka  does 
not  occur.  Traffic  with  China  is  first  mentioned  in 
the  Milinda  (pp.  127,  327,  359),  which  is  some  cent- 
uries later. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VI 
THE  MOST  ANCIENT  COINS  OF  INDIA 
EXPLANATION  OF  FIGS.  24  AND  25. 

This  explanation,  being  too  long  to  be  inserted  here, 
has  been  transferred  to  pp.  321,  322. 

1 Jat.  2.  127. 


Fig.  24  — ANCIKNT  INDIAN  COINS. 
[See  Appendix,  pp.  321,  322.] 

I06 


CHAPTER  VII 
WRITING  — THE  BEGINNINGS 
ITERATURE  of  all  kinds  laboured  under  a 


curious  disability.  There  were,  for  a long 
time,  no  writing  materials  — that  is,  none  that  could 
be  used  for  the  production  and  reproduction  of 
books.  And  the  Indians  not  only  did  not  feel  the 
want  of  them,  but  even  continued,  for  centuries 
after  materials  had  become  available,  to  prefer,  so 
far  as  books  are  concerned,  to  do  without  them. 
The  state  of  things  thus  disclosed,  being  unique 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  deserves  a detailed 
exposition. 

The  oldest  reference  to  writing  is  in  a tract 
called  the  Silas , embodied  in  each  of  the  thirteen 
Dialogues  which  form  the  first  chapter  of  the  first 
division  of  the  Suttantas,  or  conversational  dis- 
courses of  the  Buddha.  This  tract  must  therefore 
have  been  already  in  existence  as  a separate  work 
before  those  Dialogues  were  put  together  by  the 
early  disciples  within  the  first  century  after  the 
Buddha’s  death.  The  tract  on  the  Silas  may  be 
dated,  therefore,  approximately  about  450  B.C.  The 


107 


io8 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


tract  contains  lists  of  things  a member  of  the 
Buddhist  Order  would  not  do.  And  among  these 
is  a list  of  games,  one  of  which  is  called  Akkharika 
(Lettering),  explained  as  “ Guessing  at  letters  traced 
in  the  air,  or  on  a playfellow’s  back.”  As  the 
context 1 gives  a number  of  children’s  games,  this 
was  almost  certainly  regarded  as  such.  And  for 
children  to  have  such  a game,  and  to  call  it  by  the 
name  “ Lettering,”  shows  that  the  knowledge  of 
an  alphabet  was  fairly  prevalent  at  the  time  in 
question. 

The  collection  of  canon  law  laid  down  for  mem- 
bers of  the  Order  under  the  generic  name  of  Vinaya 
(Discipline)  is  in  its  present  shape  somewhat,  per- 
haps two  or  three  generations,  younger.  In  it  there 
are  several  suggestive  references. 

For  instance,  writing  ( lekha ) is  praised  at  Vin.  iv. 
7,  as  a distinguished  sort  of  art ; and  whereas  the 
sisters  of  the  Order  are,  as  a rule,  to  abstain  from 
worldly  arts,  there  are  exceptions;  and  one  of  these 
is  learning  to  write.2  A criminal  “ who  had  been 
written  up  in  the  king’s  porch  ” (as  we  should  say 
“who  was  wanted  by  the  police”)  was  not  to  be 
received  into  the  Order.3  In  a discussion  as  to 
what  career  a lad  should  adopt,  his  parents  say  that 
if  he  adopt  the  profession  of  a “ writer  ” he  will 
dwell  at  ease  and  in  comfort ; but  then,  on  the 
other  hand,  his  fingers  will  ache.4  Were  a member 
of  the  Order  to  write  to  a man  setting  out  the 

1 The  whole  tract  is  translated  in  my  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 
vol.  i.  pp.  3-26.  The  passage  in  question  is  on  p.  II. 

2 Vin.  iv.  305.  3 Ibid.  i.  75.  4 Ibid.  i.  77;  iv.  128. 


WRITING — THE  BEGINNINGS  109 

advantage  of  suicide,  then,  for  each  letter  in  the 
writing,  he  commits  an  offence.1 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  writing  was  in  vogue 
at  the  time  these  passages  were  composed  : that 
it  was  made  use  of  for  the  publication  of  official 
notices,  and  for  the  communication  by  way  of  letter 
between  private  individuals:  that  the  ability  to 
write  was  a possible  and  honourable  source  of  live- 
lihood : that  the  knowledge  of  writing  was  not  con- 
fined to  any  particular  class,  but  was  acquired  by 
ordinary  folk,  and  by  women  : and  that  it  was 
sufficiently  prevalent  to  have  been  made  the  basis 
of  a game  for  children.  A long  period,  probably 
centuries,  must  have  elapsed  between  the  date 
when  writing  first  became  known  to  the  few, 
and  the  date  when  such  a stage  could  have  been 
reached. 

But  it  is  a long  step  from  the  use  of  writing  for 
such  notifications,  public  or  private,  to  the  use  of 
it  for  the  purpose  of  writing  down  any  books,  much 
less  an  extensive  literature.  And  the  very  same 
texts  we  have  just  quoted  show,  and  show  in  a 
manner  equally  indisputable,  that,  for  such  pur- 
poses, writing,  however  well  known,  had  not  yet 
come  into  use. 

For  if  books  had  been  known  and  used  in  India 
at  the  period  in  question,  then  the  manuscripts 
themselves,  and  the  whole  industry  connected  with 

1 Vin.  iii.  76.  The  expression  used  for  writing  is  here  lekhatn 
chindati , “scratches  a writing.”  From  this  Biihler  (Indische  Pd- 
leographie , p.  88)  concludes  that  the  material  implied  is  wood. 
But  the  reference  is  to  scratching  with  a style  on  a leaf. 


I IO 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


them,  must  have  played  an  important  part  in  the 
daily  life  of  the  members  of  the  Buddhist  Order. 
Now  the  extant  rules  of  the  Order  place  clearly 
enough  before  our  eyes  the  whole  of  the  “ personal 
property  ” of  the  community,  or  of  its  individuals. 
Every  movable  thing,  down  to  the  smallest  and 
least  important  domestic  utensil,  is  referred  to,  and 
its  use  pointed  out.  And  articles  in  ordinary  use 
among  laymen,  but  not  allowed  to  members  of 
the  Order,  are  mentioned  also,  in  order  to  be  dis- 
allowed. But  nowhere  do  we  find  the  least  trace 
of  any  reference  to  books  or  manuscripts. 

This  is  really  decisive.  It  is  one  of  those  rare 
cases  where  negative  evidence,  the  absence  of  the 
mention  of  something  where  the  mention  of  it 
would  be  reasonably  expected,  is  good  evidence. 
But  this  is  not  all.  Positive  evidence  comes  in  at 
the  precise  point  where  it  is  wanted.  There  is 
pretty  constant  reference  to  the  texts  as  existing, 
but  existing  only  in  the  memory  of  those  who 
had  learnt  them  by  heart.  Here  we  have  the  ex- 
planation of  how  the  difficulty  was  met. 

Thus  at  Anguttara,  3.  107,  the  dangers  that  may 
eventually  fall  upon  the  faith  are  being  discussed. 
One  is  that  the  members  of  the  Order  will  listen 
and  give  heed  when  poetical,  pretty,  ornate  Sut- 
tantas  are  being  repeated,  and  think  them  worthy 
of  the  trouble  of  being  learnt  by  heart ; but  will 
neglect  the  deeper,  more  subtle,  more  philosophical 
treatises. 

So  at  Anguttara,  2.  147,  among  four  causes  of  the 
decay  of  religion  one  is  that 


WRI  TING—  THE  BEGINNINGS 


1 1 1 

“ those  Bhikshus  who  have  learnt  much  (literally,  heard 
much),  to  whom  the  tradition  has  been  handed  on,  who 
carry  (in  their  memory)  the  doctrine,  and  the  discipline, 
and  the  indices  thereto  (that  is,  the  tables  of  contents 
drawn  up  to  assist  the  memory)  they  (those  Bhikshus) 
may  not  be  careful  to  make  others  repeat  some  Suttanta; 
and  so,  when  they  shall  themselves  have  passed  away, 
that  Suttanta  will  become  cut  off  at  the  root,  without  a 
place  of  refuge.” 


Again  at  Anguttara,  5.  136,  we  have  the  “ nutri- 
ment ” of  a list  of  mental  states,  the  conditions 
precedent  without  which  they  cannot  be  and  grow. 
One  of  these  states  is  learning,  scholarship.  One 
would  expect  to  find  that  study,  the  reading  of  books, 
would  be  its  “ nutriment.”  Not  at  all.  It  is  said  to 
be  “ repeating  over  to  oneself.”  A chance  expression 
of  this  sort  has  particular  value.  For  it  implies  that 
the  basis  of  learning  was  what  a man  carried  in  his 
head,  in  his  memory;  and  that  constant  repetition 
was  required  to  prevent  his  losing  it.  It  is  a sort  of 
expression  that  would  have  been  impossible  if  books 
had  been  in  general  use. 

In  the  canon  law  also  we  find  two  suggestive 
rules.  In  the  Vinaya  Texts , 1.  267,  the  rule  is  that 
the  Patimokkha,  consisting  of  the  227  Rules  of  the 
Order,  is  to  be  recited  monthly  in  each  “ residence” 
or  monastic  settlement.  And  if,  among  the  brethren 
there,  none  should  know  the  rules  by  heart,  then 
they  are  (not  to  send  for  a copy,  but)  to  send  one  of 
their  younger  members  to  some  neighbouring  fra- 
ternity, there  to  learn  the  Patimokkha,  either  with  or 


1 12 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


without  the  explanations  of  the  several  rules,  by 
heart. 

Shortly  afterwards  we  have  a rule  forbidding  the 
brethren  to  travel  in  the  rainy  season.  But  among 
the  exceptions'  we  find  the  case  put  that  a layman 
knows  how  to  recite  some  celebrated  Suttanta.  “ If 
he  send  a messenger  to  the  brethren,  saying  : ‘ Might 
their  reverences  come  and  learn  this  Suttanta,  other- 
wise this  Suttanta  will  fall  into  oblivion?’”  — then 
they  may  go,  so  important  is  the  emergency,  even 
during  the  rains. 

It  is  evident  from  such  passages  — and  many 
others  might  be  quoted  to  a like  effect — that  the 
idea  of  recording,  by  writing,  even  a Suttanta,  the 
average  length  of  which  is  only  about  twenty  pages 
of  the  size  of  this  work,  did  not  occur  to  the  men 
who  composed  or  used  the  canonical  texts.  They 
could  not  even  have  thought  of  the  possibility  of 
using  writing  as  a means  of  guarding  against  such 
painful  accidents.  Yet,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Indian 
peoples  had  been  acquainted  with  letters,  and  with 
writing,  for  a long  time,  probably  for  centuries  be- 
fore; and  had  made  very  general  use  of  writing  for 
short  communications.  It  seems  extraordinary  that 
they  should  have  abstained  from  its  use  on  occasions 
which  were,  to  them,  so  important.  Now  the  reason 
why  they  did  so  abstain  is  twofold. 

In  the  first  place  writing  was  introduced  into  India 
at  a late  period  in  the  intellectual  development  of  its 
people  — so  late  that,  before  they  knew  of  it,  they 
had  already  brought  to  perfection,  to  a perfection 
1 Vi  nay  a Texts , I.  305. 


WRITING — THE  BEGINNINGS  1 1 3 

unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world,  another 
method,  and  in  some  respects  a very  excellent 
method,  of  handing  down  literary  productions.  They 
would  not  lightly  give  up,  for  a new-fangled  expedi- 
ent, this  tried  and  ancient  one. 

In  the  second  place,  even  had  they  desired  to  do 
so,  they  could  not.  For  they  did  not  become  ac- 
quainted, at  the  same  time  when  they  came  to  know 
of  writing,  with  the  necessary  materials  for  writing 
lengthy  records. 

We  have  only  just  been  able  to  see  clearly  this 
very  curious  state  of  things.  But  we  now  have  three 
different  lines  of  evidence  all  converging  to  a certain 
date  as  that  of  the  introduction  of  writing  into  India  : 
and  it  is  the  knowledge  of  that  date  which  has  led  to 
the  true  explanation. 

The  first  line  is  that  of  the  oldest  references  to 
writing  in  Indian  literature  as  set  out  above. 

The  second  line  is  the  discovery,  due  originally  to 
Professor  Weber,  and  lately  greatly  extended  and 
confirmed  by  Hofrath  Dr.  Biihler,1  that  a certain  pro- 
portion of  the  oldest  Indian  letters  are  practically 
identical  with  letters  on  certain  Assyrian  weights, 
and  on  the  so-called  Mesa  inscription  of  the  seventh 
and  sixth  centuries  B.C.  About  one-third  of  the 
twenty-two  letters  of  the  so-called  Northern  Semitic 
alphabet  of  that  period  are  identical  with  the  oldest 
forms  of  the  corresponding  Indian  letters.  Another 
third  are  somewhat  similar.  And  the  remaining 
third  can,  with  great  difficulty,  be  more  or  less— gene- 

1 In  Part  III.  of  his  Indian  Studies  (2d  ed.,  1898),  and  in  his 
Indisc  he  Paleographie,  1896. 

8 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


ri4 

rally  less — harmonised.  Other  scholars  have  made 
similar,  but  not  such  satisfactory,  comparisons  be- 
tween the  Indian  letters  and  those  of  the  Southern 
forms  of  the  Semitic  alphabet.  And  the  conclusion 
hitherto  drawn  has  been  either,  with  Weber  and 
Biihler,  that  the  Indian  alphabet  is  derived  from  the 
Northern  Semites;  or,  with  Dr.  Deecke,  Isaac  Tay- 
lor, and  others,  that  it  is  derived  from  that  of  the 
Southern  Semites,  in  South  Arabia. 

Now  direct  intercourse,  at  the  requisite  date,  was 
possible,  but  not  probable,  along  the  coast,  between 
India  and  South  Arabia,  where  the  resemblance  is 
least.  No  one  contends  that  the  Indians  had  any 
direct  communication  with  the  men  who,  on  the 
borders  of  Palestine,  inscribed  the  Mesa  stone,  where 
the  resemblance  is  greater.  I venture  to  think, 
therefore,  that  the  only  hypothesis  harmonising 
these  discoveries  is  that  the  Indian  letters  were  de- 
rived, neither  from  the  alphabet  of  the  Northern, 
nor  from  that  of  the  Southern  Semites,  but  from 
that  source  from  which  these,  in  their  turn,  had  been 
derived  — from  the  pre-Semitic  form  of  writing  used 
in  the  Euphrates  Valley. 

As  to  the  date,  the  derivation  must  have  taken 
place  at  a time  when  the  resemblance  between  the 
forms  of  the  letters  is  greatest.  It  must  have  been, 
therefore,  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.  or  earlier;  for 
a comparison  of  later  Babylonian  or  Semitic  forms 
shows  no  sufficient  agreement.  And  it  is  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  origin  of  the  Indian  alphabet  is 
previous  to  the  time  when  the  parent  script  was 
written  from  right  to  left.  For  the  Indian,  like  our 


WRITING—  THE  BEGINNINGS 


1 1 5 


own,  runs  from  left  to  right.  Only  the  legend  on 
one  coin  (described  in  Cunningham’s  Coins  of 
Ancient  India)'  and  a few  short  inscriptions  in 
Ceylon,  not  yet  published,2  run  from  right  to  left. 
Certain  groups  of  letters  also,  in  the  inscriptions  of 
the  third  century  B.C.,  are  intended  to  be  read,  as 


we  should  say,  backwards.3  The  direction  of  the 
writing  was  open  to  fluctuation  when  these  (by  no 
means  the  most  ancient)  records  were  made. 

The  third  line  of  evidence  is  that  best  brought  to- 
gether by  Mr.  Kennedy  in  his  article  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  for  1898.  It  tends  to 
show : 

1.  That  continued  and  extensive  trading  took 
place  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.  between  Babylon 
and  ports  on  the  west  coast  of  India. 

2.  That  it  is  highly  improbable  that  there  was 
any  such  trade  much  before  that  time. 

3.  That  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  Indian 

1 The  coin  No.  1 is  reproduced  here  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Head 
and  Mr.  Rapson,  from  the  coin  itself,  now  in  the  British  Museum  ; 
No.  2 is  in  Mr.  White  King’s  collection. 

2 See  Mr.  Wickramasinha's  letter  in  the  J.  R.  A.  S.  1895. 

3 See  Mr.  Wickramasinha’s  article  in  the  J.  R.  A.  S.  1901. 


Fig.  25. — ERAN  COINS. 
[See  pp.  321,  322.] 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


1 16 

merchants  who  went  to  Babylon  went  also  farther 
inland,  from  Babylon  to  the  west  ; or  that  they 
continued  their  voyages  as  far  as  Yemen;  or  that 
they  reached  Babylon  overland,  by  way  of  the 
passes,  across  Afghanistan. 

There  is  still  much  to  be  done  in  the  working  out 
of  the  details  of  each  of  these  three  lines  of  evid- 
ence. No  one  of  them  is  yet  conclusive  by  itself. 
But  the  consensus  of  all  three  lends  confirmation  to 
each.  And  it  may  now  be  accepted  as  a working 
hypothesis  that : 

1.  Sea-going  merchants,  availing  themselves  of 
the  monsoons,  were  in  the  habit,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  seventh  (and  perhaps  at  the  end  of  the  eighth) 
century  B.C.,  of  trading  from  ports  on  the  south-west 
coast  of  India  (Sovlra  at  first,  afterwards  Supparaka 
and  Bharukaccha)  to  Babylon,  then  a great  mer- 
cantile emporium. 

2.  These  merchants  were  mostly  Dravidians,  not 
Aryans.  Such  Indian  names  of  the  goods  imported 
as  were  adopted  in  the  west  (Solomon’s  ivory,  apes, 
and  peacocks,  for  instance,  and  the  word  “ rice”)  were 
adaptations,  not  of  Sanskrit  or  Pali,  but  of  Tamil 
words. 

3.  These  merchants  there  became  acquainted  with 
an  alphabetic  writing  derived  from  that  first  invented 
and  used  by  the  white  pre-Semitic  race  now  called 
Akkadians. 

4.  That  alphabet  had  previously  been  carried,  by 
wandering  Semitic  tribes,  from  Babylon  to  the 
west,  both  north-west  and  south-west.  Some  of  the 
particular  letters  learnt  by  the  Indian  merchants 


WRITING— THE  BEGINNINGS  I 

are  closely  allied  to  letters  found  on  inscriptions 
recorded  by  those  Semitic  tribes,  and  also  on  Baby- 
lonian weights,  both  of  a date  somewhat  earlier  than 
the  time  when  the  Indians  made  their  trading 
journeys. 

5.  After  the  merchants  brought  this  script  to 
India  it  gradually  became  enlarged  and  adapted  to 
suit  the  special  requirements  of  the  Indian  learned 
and  colloquial  dialects.  Nearly  a thousand  years 
afterwards  the  thus  adapted  alphabet  became  known 
as  the  Brahml  Lipl,  the  Sublime  Writing.  What 
name  it  bore  in  the  interval — for  instance,  in  Asoka’s 
time — is  not  known.  From  it  all  the  alphabets  now 
used  in  India,  Burma,  Siam,  and  Ceylon  have  been 
gradually  evolved. 

6.  When  this  script  was  first  brought  to  India  in 
the  eighth  or  seventh  century  B.C.,  the  Indians  had 
already  possessed  an  extensive  Vedic  literature 
handed  down  in  the  priestly  schools  by  memory, 
and  by  memory  alone.  The  alphabet  soon  became 
known  to  the  priests.  But  they  continued  as  before 
to  hand  down  their  books  by  the  old  method  only. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  they  began  to  make  use 
of  written  notes  to  aid  the  memory  on  which  they 
still,  in  the  main,  depended. 

7.  The  material  on  which  the  signs  had  been 
traced  in  Babylon  was  clay.  They  were  traced  in 
India  with  an  iron  style,  on  leaves,  or  on  pieces  of 
bark,  chiefly  birch  bark.  No  ink  was  used  ; and 
these  mere  scratchings  on  such  fragile  substances 
were  not  only  difficult  to  make  out,  but  the  leaves 
or  bark  were  apt  easily  to  be  broken  up  or  destroyed. 


1 18 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


8.  It  was  not  till  long  afterwards  that  a method 
of  preparing  large  pieces  of  bark  or  the  leaves  of  the 
Corypha  talipot  palm  so  as  to  prevent  their  break- 
ing was  discovered.  It  was  not  till  long  afterwards 
that  an  ink  was  discovered,  which  could  be  rubbed 
over  such  a leaf  with  letters  scratched  upon  it,  and 
would  then  remain  in  the  scratches,  thus  making  the 
writing  easily  legible.  Till  these  discoveries  had 
been  made  there  were  really  no  materials  practically 
available  for  use  as  books.  And  it  was  probably 
chiefly  because  of  the  fact  that  the  need  of  such  ma- 
terials was  not  felt  that  the  discoveries  were  not 
much  sooner  made. 

9.  To  say  indeed  that  the  need  was  not  felt  is,  as 
regards  the  Vedic  schools,  not  nearly  strong  enough. 
The  priests  were,  as  a body,  exceedingly  keen  to 
keep  the  knowledge  of  the  mantras  (the  charms  or 
verses),  on  which  the  magic  of  the  sacrifice  depended, 
in  their  own  hands.  There  are  some  pretty  rules 
about  this  in  the  later  priestly  law-books  — rules 
that  received,  it  should  be  noted,  the  cordial  ap- 
proval of  Shankara.' 

“ The  ears  of  a Sudra  who  listens,  intentionally, 
when  the  Veda  is  being  recited  are  to  be  filled  with 
molten  lead.  His  tongue  is  to  be  cut  out  if  he  re- 
cite it.  His  body  is  to  be  split  in  twain  if  he  pre- 
serve it  in  his  memory.”  2 The  priestly  view  was 
that  God  himself  had  bestowed  the  exclusive  right 
of  teaching  upon  the  hereditary  priests 3 ; who  claimed 
to  be,  each  of  them,  great  divinities,4  even  to  the  gods.5 

1 On  the  Vedanta  Sutras,  i.  3.  38.  2 Gautama,  xii.  4-6. 

3 Manu,  1.  88.  4 Ibid.  ix.  317,  319.  5 Ibid.  xi.  85. 


WRITING— THE  BEGINNINGS  119 

We  cannot,  therefore,  be  far  wrong  if  we  suppose 
they  were  not  merely  indifferent  to  the  use  of  writ- 
ing as  a means  of  handing  on  the  books  so  lucrative 
to  themselves,  but  were  even  strongly  opposed  to  a 
method  so  dangerous  to  their  exclusive  privileges. 
And  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  to  find  that  the 
oldest  manuscripts  on  bark  or  palm  leaf  known  in 
India  are  Buddhist  ; that  the  earliest  written  records 
on  stone  and  metal  are  Buddhist  ; that  it  is  the 
Buddhists  who  first  made  use  of  writing  to  record 
their  canonical  books  ; and  that  the  earliest  mention 
of  writing  at  all  in  the  voluminous  priestly  literature 
is  in  the  Vasishtha  Dharma  Sutra' — one  of  the  later 
law  books,  and  long  posterior  to  the  numerous 
references  quoted  above  from  the  Buddhist  canon. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  impossible,  a priori , that  the 
priests  in  India  had  developed  an  alphabet  of  their 
own  out  of  picture  writing;  and  that  it  was  on  to 
such  an  alphabet  that  the  borrowed  letters  were 
grafted.  General  Cunningham  went  even  farther. 
He  thought  the  alphabet  was  altogether  developed, 
independently,  on  Indian  soil.  But  we  have  at  pre- 
sent, not  only  no  evidence  to  that  effect,  but  much 
the  other  way.  All  the  present  available  evidence 
tends  to  show  that  the  Indian  alphabet  is  not 
Aryan  at  all;  that  it  was  introduced  into  India  by 
Dravidian  merchants  ; and  that  it  was  not,  in  spite 
of  their  invaluable  services  in  other  respects  to  In- 
dian literature,  to  the  priests,  whose  self-interests 
were  opposed  to  such  discoveries,  but  to  traders, 
and  to  less  prejudiced  literary  circles,  that  India 


xvi.  10.  14. 


120 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


owes  the  invention  of  those  improvements  in  the 
mechanical  aids  to  writing  that  enabled  the  long 
previously  existent  knowledge  of  letters  to  be  applied 
at  last  to  the  production  and  preservation  of  books. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WRITING  — ITS  DEVELOPMENT 

IT  may  be  asked  why  the  Indian  merchants  who 
brought  the  knowledge  of  the  alphabet  from 
Babylon  to  Western  India  did  not  also  bring  the 
method,  then  carried  in  Babylon  to  so  great  a de- 
gree of  success,  of  writing  — and  of  writing  not  only 
mercantile  memoranda  but  also  books — on  clay 
tablets,  on  bricks. 

The  problem  is  not  without  difficulty.  But  it 
does  not  arise  only  in  India.  Elsewhere  also  the 
traders  or  tribes  who  learnt  the  alphabet  in  the 
Euphrates  Valley  never  adopted  the  habit  of  writ- 
ing on  bricks.  Bricks  and  tablets  and  seals,  all  of 
them  of  clay,  have  been  found,  indeed,  in  widely 
separated  parts  of  India,  with  letters,  and  even  sent- 
ences, inscribed  upon  them.  But  the  letters  on  the 
bricks,  though  most  interesting  as  palaeographic  evid- 
ence, are  merely  mason’s  marks ; the  inscribed  clay 
tablets  contain  only  short  sentences  of  scripture ; 
and  the  legends  on  the  seals  are  only  of  the  usual 
kind.  The  fact  remains,  therefore,  that  clay  was 
not  in  any  general  use  among  the  people  as  a 


121 


122 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


material  for  writing  books  upon,  or  even  short  com- 
munications. As  a specimen  of  writing  on  clay  the 
annexed  figure  of  a tablet  discovered  by  Dr.  Hoey, 


Fig.  26. — LEAF  OF  MS.  FROM  THE  GOSINGA  VIHARA  OF  AN  OLD 
BUDDHIST  ANTHOLOGY. 

by  whose  kindness  I am  allowed  to  reproduce  it,  is 
interesting.  It  contains  a Buddhist  tract.  Of 
course  copper  and  gold  plates  were  early  and  often 


124 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


used,  of  which  the  Takshila  copper  plates  and  one 
of  the  Maung-gon  gold  plates  are  here  shown. 

On  the  other  hand  we  have  abundant  evidence, 
both  literary  and  archaeological,  of  the  use  for  such 
purposes  of  birch  bark  and  palm  leaves.  The  oldest 
specimen  of  a book  in  such  writing  hitherto  discov- 
ered is  the  MS.  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Gosinga 
Vihara,  thirteen  miles  from  Khotan.  This  MS.  is 
written  with  ink  on  birch  bark  in  letters  of  the  Kha- 
rostrl  alphabet,  an  alphabet  introduced  overland  into 
the  extreme  north-west  of  India  about  500  B.C.,  and 
used  locally  in  Gandhara  (side  by  side  with  the  other 
alphabet  to  which  reference  has  been  made  above, 
and  to  which  all  existing  Indian  alphabets  can  be 
traced  back).1  This  MS.,  portions  of  which  have 
just  found  their  way  both  to  Paris  and  St.  Peters- 
burg, must  have  been  written  in  Gandhara  shortly 
before  or  after  the  Christian  era.  And  it  contains 
an  anthology  of  Buddhist  religious  verses  taken  from 
the  canonical  books,  but  given  in  a local  dialect, 
younger  than  the  Pali  of  the  texts.’ 

The  next  MS.  in  point  of  age  is  much  younger. 
It  is  the  one  discovered  by  Captain  Bower  in  Mingai, 
near  Kuchar,  containing  medical  receipts  and  form- 
ulas for  snake-charming,  and  written  in  characters 
of  the  fourth  or  perhaps  the  fifth  century  A.D.,  with 

1 The  name  of  this  alphabet  has  always  been  spelt  Kharosthl. 
But  Professor  Sylvain  Levi  in  his  just  published  article  in  the  Bul- 
letin de  l ' e'eole  fr arifais  d' extreme-orient  for  1902  has  clearly  shown 
that  the  right  spelling  is  as  above,  and  that  the  Kharostra  is  simply 
the  name  of  a country,  to  wit,  Kashgar. 

2 See  Senart  in  the  Journal  Asia/ique  for  1898  ; and  compare  Rh. 
D.’s  note  in  the  J.R.A.S.  for  1899. 


Fig.  28. — THE  COl>PER  PLATE  FROM  TAKKA-S1LA. 
[. Epigraphia  Indica,  Vol.  IV.] 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


ink,  on  birch  bark  cut  to 
imitate  palm  leaves. 
These  leaves  are  also 
pierced  with  holes, 
through  which  a string 
can  be  passed  to  keep 
the  leaves  together  — a 
plan  always  adopted  for 
palm  leaves,  but  very 
unsuitable  for  birch 
bark,  which  is  so  brittle 
that  the  string  is  apt  to 
tearand  break  the 
leaves,  as  it  had  done  in 
this  case.  The  language 
used  in  this  MS.  is  suf- 
ficiently near  to  classi- 
cal Sanskrit  for  it  to  be 
called  Sanskrit.  But 
the  five  different  short 
treatises  of  which  this 
MS.  consists  contain,  in 
varying  degree,  a good 
many  colloquialisms.1 
Other  MSS.  of  great 

1 See  now,  on  this  MS.,  Dr. 
Hoernle’s  magnificent  edition 
of  the  texts,  with  lithographed 
reproductions,  transliterations, 
and  translations.  Professor 
Buhler’s  preliminary  remarks 
on  it  are  in  the  fifth  volume  of 
the  Vienna  Oriental  Journal. 


128 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


age  have  been  recently  discovered  in  Turkestan; 
but  these  are  the  oldest  ones  so  far  deciphered  and 
edited.  The  others  are  still  awaiting  decipherment, 
and  are  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Hoernle  for  that  purpose. 

Now  as  the  Bower  MS.  is  in  Sanskrit  (though 
not  good  Sanskrit),  and  the  Gosinga  MS.  is  in  a 
dialect  allied  to,  but  younger  than  Pali,  the  natural 
conclusion  would  seem  to  be  that,  as  Sanskrit  is 
older  than  Pali,  the  texts  contained  in  the  Bower 
MS.  must  be  older.  That  the  MS.  itself,  the  par- 
ticular copy  that  has  survived,  is  some  centuries 
later,  does  not  matter.  Pali  is  to  Sanskrit  about  as 
Italian  is  to  Latin.  Whatever  the  age  of  the  MSS. 
in  which  the  copies  of  them  may  be  written,  the 
text  of  a work  by  Vergil  must  be  older  than  the 
text  of  a work  by  Dante.  The  conclusion  seems, 
therefore,  obvious  that  a work  in  Sanskrit,  whatever 
the  age  of  the  MS.  in  which  it  is  written,  must  be 
older  than  a work  in  Pali,  and,  a fortiori , older  than 
a work  in  a dialect  that  is,  philologically  speaking, 
younger  than  Pali. 

Oddly  enough  the  exact  contrary  is  the  case. 
Not  only  is  the  Gosinga  MS.  older  than  the  Bower 
MS.,  but  the  verses  contained  in  it  are  also  older 
than  the  texts  contained  in  the  Bower  MS.,  and  that 
precisely  because  they  are  written  in  a dialect  closely 
allied  to  Pali.  And  we  should  know  this  for  certain 
even  if  we  had  only  printed  copies  of  these  two 
works,  that  is,  even  if  we  had  not  the  palaeographic 
evidence  of  the  age  of  the  handwriting  to  guide  us. 
For,  in  the  period  we  are  considering,  the  more 
closely  a book  or  an  inscription  approximates  to 


FlG.  31. — THE  INSCRIBED  VASE  FROM  THE  SAKIYA  TOPE. 


130 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


pure  Sanskrit,  unalloyed  by  colloquialisms,  by  Pali 
phrases  and  grammatical  forms,  the  later  it  is  — not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  Sanskrit  is,  etymologi- 
cally speaking,  older  than  Pali. 

The  explanation  of  this  apparent  anomaly  is  really 
perfectly  plain  and  simple.  It  is  clear  enough  from 
a comparison  of  the  literature,  but  it  is  more  easily 
shown,  perhaps,  by  a comparison  of  the  inscriptions. 
Take  the  inscription,  for  instance,  on  the  vase  dis- 
covered by  Mr.  Peppe  in  the  Sakiya  Tope — which  is 
in  my  opinion  the  oldest  inscription  yet  discovered 
in  India — and  what  do  we  find?1 

1.  As  to  the  language.  It  is  entirely  in  the  living 
language,  in  the  vernacular. 

2.  As  to  the  orthography.  The  consonants  are 
roughly  and  rudely  written. 

3.  The  only  vowels  expressed,  by  signs  hung  on 
to  the  consonants,  are  i and  n and  (in  one  doubtful 
case)  either  e or  0. 

4.  No  consonants  are  written  double,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  double  consonants,  pronounced  double 
(as  in  Italian  of  to-day),  were  a marked  feature  of 
the  vernacular. 

5.  No  groups  of  consonants  (such  as  the  ndr  in 
our  word  hundred  or  the  pi  and  st  in  our  word 
plastic , are  written  as  groups.  Thus  the  word  for 
“of  the  Sakiyas”  is  written  s ki y tim,  which  is  the 
nearest  orthography  the  writer  could  get,  or  troubled 

1 See  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society , 1898  and  1899. 

The  annexed  illustrations  are  from  photographs  by  Mr.  Peppe  to 
whose  skill  and  enterprise  we  owe  this  most  interesting  and  import- 
ant addition  to  our  knowledge. 


WRITING— ITS  DEVELOPMENT  1 3 1 

himself  to  get,  for  the  word  as  spoken  in  the  living 
local  dialect.  This  may  have  been  either  Sakiyanam 
or  Sakkiyanam  (pronounced  Sak-kiyanang). 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  orthography,  there- 
fore, is  very  imperfect.  It  is,  strictly  speaking,  not 
so  much  an  alphabet  as  a syllabary.  The  light 


Fig.  32. — THE  PEPPE  VASES. 
Found  by  Mr.  Peppe  in  the  Sakiya  Tope. 


vowel  a , pronounced  as  in  our  word  vocal , is  sup- 
posed inherent  in  every  consonant  on  to  which  no 
other  vowel  is  hung.  No  attempt  is  yet  made  to 
distinguish  between  long  and  short  vowels.  No 
diphthongs  are  written.  There  is  no  expedient  as 
yet  to  show  that  a consonant  is  to  be  pronounced 
as  a final,  that  is,  without  the  inherent  a;  and  this, 
together  with  the  absence  of  groups,  is  what  renders 
it  impossible  to  express  the  double  consonants  so 
frequent  in  the  actual  language. 


132 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


The  next  stage  vve  have  (that  is,  at  present  ; no 
doubt  as  soon  as  archaeological  explorations  are 
carried  on  systematically  in  India  intermediate  stages 
will  be  available)  are  the  Asoka  inscriptions.  Of 
these  thirty-four  have  so  far  been  found,  and  M. 
Senart,  in  his  Inscriptions  de  Piyadasi,  has  subjected 
all  those  discovered  before  1886  to  an  exhaustive 
and  detailed  analysis.  With  these  ought  to  be 
compared  the  greater  number  of  the  inscriptions  on 
the  Bharhut  Tope,  some  of  which  are  a little  older, 
some  a little  younger,  and  only  one  or  two  a good 
deal  younger  than  Asoka. 

Two  tendencies  are  very  marked  in  these  inscrip- 
tions of  the  third  century  B.C.  In  the  first  place  the 
orthographical  expedients  are  very  much  improved. 
All  the  long  vowels  are  now  marked  as  such.  Once 
we  have  a diphthong.  Numerous  groups  of  con- 
sonants are  written  as  such.  The  letters  as  a whole 
are  engraved  much  more  neatly  and  regularly.  The 
alphabet  tends,  therefore,  to  be  much  more  accurate, 
more  phonetic,  fuller,  more  complete. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  scribes  or  engravers,  or 
both,  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  giving  expression 
in  their  orthography  to  what  they  conceived  to  be 
the  more  learned  and  more  proper  forms  of  words, 
and  of  grammatical  inflexions,  rather  than  to  the 
forms  actually  in  use  in  the  real,  living  language. 
The  alphabet  tends,  therefore,  to  be  much  less  ac- 
curate, to  give  a less  faithful  picture  of  the  living 
speech. 

This  last  tendency  is  exactly  analogous  to  what 
happened  when  our  own  spelling  was  being  set- 


PORTION  OF  THE  ASHES  FROM  THE  FUNERAL  PYRE  OF  THE 


134 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


tied.  Englishmen  probably  pronounced  would 
and  could  much  as  they  do  now.  But  some  one 
knew  there  had  been  an  l in  the  earlier  form  of 
would  (as  in  the  German  wollte ).  And  so  he  spelt  it 
with  an  /,  which  no  longer  existed  in  the  real,  living 
speech.  Somebody  else  (who  thought  he  would  be 
quite  learned,  and  proper,  and  on  the  safe  side), 
spelt  could  also  with  an  /,  though  the  l existed, 
in  this  case,  neither  in  the  older  form  of  the  word 
nor  in  the  living  speech.  And  now  we  are  saddled 
with  the  / in  both  words  whether  we  like  it  or  not. 
It  was  this  latter  tendency  which  won  the  day  in 
India.  Very  gradually  the  efforts  to  represent  the 
real  facts  of  the  language  gave  way  to  another  effort 
altogether,  the  effort  to  give  expression  to  the 
learned  phraseology.  The  past  history  of  the  words 
came  to  be  considered  more  than  their  actual  sound. 
Both  the  language  in  the  inscriptions,  and  the 
methods  of  spelling  adopted  in  them,  became  more 
and  more  artificial.  The  double  process  went  on 
through  the  centuries,  until  at  last,  at  the  very  time 
when  the  alphabet  had  been  so  continually  improved 
that  it  had  become  the  most  perfect  instrument  of 
phonetic  expression  the  world  has  yet  seen,  the 
other  process  had  also  reached  its  climax,  the  living 
speech  had  completely  disappeared  from  the  monu- 
ments, and  all  the  inscriptions  are  recorded  in  a 
dead  language,  in  the  so-called  classical  Sanskrit. 
The  oldest  inscription  in  pure  Sanskrit  so  far  dis- 
covered, that  of  Rudradaman  at  Girnar  in  the 
Kathiawad,  is  dated  (no  doubt  in  the  Saka  Era)  in 
the  year  72.  It  belongs,  therefore,  to  the  middle  of 


IV R I TING—  I TS  DE  VEL  OP  MEN  T 


135 


the  second  century  after  Christ.  It  had  taken  four 
centuries  from  Asoka’s  time  to  reach  this  stage. 
And  though  the  end  was  not  yet,  and  inscriptions  in 


Fig.  34. — FRAGMENT  OF  THE  I3TH  ROCK  EDICT  OF  ASOKA,  DIS- 
COVERED BY  PROFESSOR  RHYS-DAVIDS  AT  G1RNAR. 

the  vernacular,  pedantically  contorted,  are  still  met 
with,  from  the  fifth  century  onwards  the  dead 
language  reigns  supreme. 

The  case  of  the  coins  is,  if  possible,  even  more  in- 


136 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


structive.  The  oldest  coin  which  bears  an  inscription 
in  Sanskrit  is  a unique  coin  of  Satyadaman,  be- 
longing to  the  western  Kshatrapa  dynasty,  whose 
approximate  date  is  200  A.D.1  Of  the  seven  words 
contained  in  the  inscription  on  this  coin  all  have 
Sanskrit  terminations,  and  only  one  offends  against 
the  rules  of  sandhi  as  observed  in  Sanskrit.  All 
coins  previous  to  this  one  bear  legends  either  in 
Pali  or  in  the  vernacular.  So,  also,  oddly  enough, 
do  all  subsequent  coins  for  a period  of  about  two 
centuries.  The  experiment  was  evidently  found  to 
have  been  a failure,  and  was  not  repeated.  Spor- 
adically we  find  single  words  in  Sanskrit  occurring 
in  legends,  otherwise  in  the  vernacular.  These  are 
evidence  of  the  desire  of  the  mint  authorities,  or 
of  the  mint  officials,  to  appear  learned.  But  the 
people  did  not  fancy  the  innovation  of  Sanskrit 
legends,  and  the  authorities  apparently  did  not  care 
to  go  on  issuing  coins  not  popular  with  the  people. 

So  in  our  own  country  up  to  as  late  as  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century  any  important  monumental 
record  in  honour  of  a wealthy  or  successful  personage 
was  almost  always  written  in  Latin.  Coins  still,  for 
the  most  part,  have  their  legends  in  Latin.  And 
throughout  Europe,  up  to  a date  not  so  very  re- 
mote, works  on  a great  variety  of  subjects  were 
written,  and  education  was  often  carried  on,  in  that 
language.3  We  have  never  reached  the  point, 
reached  in  the  fifth  century  A.D.  in  India,  that  the 

1 Rapson  in  the  J.  R.  A.  S.  1899,  p.  379. 

5 Even  in  1855,  the  first  Pali  text  edited  in  Europe  was  edited 
with  Latin  introduction,  Latin  notes,  and  a Latin  translation. 


WRI  TING — I TS  DE  VEL  OP  MEN  T 


*37 


dead  language  was  exclusively  used.  But  we  were 
not  so  very  far  from  it.  And  the  conditions  as  to 
this  matter  in  the  two  continents — for  India  is  more 
of  a continent  than  a country — were  more  similar 
than  is  often  supposed.  The  dead  language  in  each 
case  was  the  language  used  in  the  sacrifice.  The 
greater  credit  attaching  to  it  was  largely  of  a re- 
ligious nature.  But  it  was  also  a sort  of  lingua 
franca  widely  understood  through  many  countries 
in  which  many  various  languages  were  respectively 
the  language  of  the  people.  There  was  a time  in 
each  case  when  the  clergy  were  in  great  part  the 
main  custodians  of  the  learning  of  the  day,  so  that 
the  language  of  the  church  was  the  most  convenient 
language  in  which  to  appeal  to  a larger  circle  of 
educated  people  than  could  be  reached  through  any 
one  vernacular.  And  in  each  case  those  who  first 
used  the  vernacular  were  the  men  who  wished  to 
appeal  to  the  people,  who  were  advocating  what 
they  deemed  to  be  reforms. 

There  are,  of  course,  differences  also  in  these  two 
cases.  The  most  important  of  these  is  that,  in 
India,  the  use  of  the  vernacular  came  first  in  order 
of  time.  And  one  result  of  this  was  the  curious 
dialect  half-way  between  the  vernacular  and  the 
dead  language,  which  may  be  called  equally  well 
either  mixed  Sanskrit  or  mixed  vernacular,  ac- 
cording as  it  approximates  more  or  less  to  the  one 
or  to  the  other.  Another  result  was  that,  the  ver- 
nacular being  taken  so  early,  the  grammatical  term- 
inations still  survived  in  it  in  a shape  more  or  less 
akin  to  those  in  use  in  the  dead  language.  When 


138 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Dr.  Johnson  overlaid  his  English  with  a mass  of 
Latin  words,  the  process  stopped  at  a kind  of  hybrid 
vernacular.  When  the  Indian  writers  before  and 
after  the  Christian  Era  did  the  same  sort  of  thing, 
and  began  to  adopt  also  the  Sanskrit  grammatical 
terminations,  the  end  was  inevitable.  When  they 
made  use  of  a mixture  of  some  real  forms  and  words 
drawn  from  the  vernacular,  some  such  words  slightly 
altered  to  make  them  look  more  learned,  and  some 
forms  wholly  artificial  with  no  existence  at  all  in 
living  speech,  the  only  possible  consequence  was 
that  the  first  sort  were  called  vulgar,  the  second 
blunders,  and  only  the  third  declared  to  be  right. 
The  hybrid  they  thus  made  use  of  became  in- 
creasingly too  like  Sanskrit  to  be  able  to  contend 
against  it ; and  from  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
the  latter  alone  was  used.  Then,  linguistically 
speaking,  death  reigned  supreme.  The  living  lan- 
guage was  completely  overshadowed  by  the  artificial 
substitute.  The  changeling  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  rightful  heir.  The  parasite  had  overgrown  and 
smothered  the  living  tree  from  which  it  drew  its 
sustenance,  from  which  it  had  derived  its  birth. 

The  loss,  from  the  point  of  view  of  intellectual 
advancement,  must  have  been  very  great.  Who 
can  doubt  that  Europe  was  fortunate  in  escaping 
(and  it  was  a very  narrow  escape)  a similar  bondage? 
Classical  Sanskrit,  in  consequence  very  largely  of  the 
rich  fortune  it  had  inherited  from  the  vernacular 
as  previously  cultivated, — for  Pali  is  not  much 
farther  removed  from  the  vernacular  than,  say, 
Hume’s  Essay  from  the  spoken  English  of  the  day, 


WRITING— ITS  DEVELOPMENT 


139 


— is  rich  in  varied  expressions.  But,  with  its  long 
compounds  and  its  poverty  in  syntax,  it  is  cumbrous 
and  unwieldy  as  compared  even  with  the  Latin  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  much  more  so  if  compared 
with  any  living  tongue.  It  must  be  a disadvantage 
to  write  in  any  language  in  which  one  does  not 
habitually  speak  and  think.  And  the  disadvantage 
is  not  lessened  when  the  existing  works  in  that 
language  are  charged  with  an  unprogressive  (not  to 
say  reactionary)  spirit  in  religion,  philosophy,  and 
social  views  of  life. 

It  is  therefore  clear  why  Pali  books  written  in 
India,  or  books  in  a dialect  allied  to  Pali,  or  in  a 
mixture  of  such  a dialect  and  forms  taken  from  pure 
Sanskrit,  are  each  of  them  older  than  the  books 
written  in  classical  Sanskrit ; and  why  a coin,  a 
book,  or  an  inscription,  in  so  far  as  its  language  ap- 
proximates to  the  regular  Sanskrit,  is  later,  and  not 
earlier.  The  vernacular  was  used  first.  Then, 
gradually,  what  were  considered  more  learned  forms 
(taken  from  the  dead  language  used  in  the  priestly 
schools)  were,  in  a greater  and  greater  degree,  made 
use  of,  till,  finally,  the  regular  Sanskrit  became  used 
exclusively. 


CHAPTER  IX 

LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 
I.  GENERAL  VIEW 

IN  early  times  there  must  have  been  several 
systems  of  literature  preserved  independently 
among  the  followers  of  different  schools.  No  one 
of  these  schools  preserved  (that  is,  learnt  by  heart) 
the  literature  of  the  others.  But  each  knew  of  the 
others,  talked  over  the  opinions  maintained  in  them, 
considered  in  their  own  Suttas  what  was  preserved 
in  the  Suttas  of  their  opponents.  We  have  a fair 
number  of  well-established  instances  of  men  who 
had  received  a long  training  in  one  school  passing 
over  to  another.  These  men  at  least  had  thus 
acquired  a familiarity,  more  or  less  complete,  with 
two  literatures. 

In  the  forests  adjoining  the  settlements,  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  various  schools,  living  a hermit  life, 
occupied  themselves,  according  to  the  various  tend- 
encies of  the  schools  to  which  they  belonged,  either 
in  meditation  or  in  sacrificial  rites,  or  in  practices 
of  self-torture,  or  in  repeating  over  to  themselves, 


140 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE  14I 

and  in  teaching  to  their  pupils,  the  Suttas  contain- 
ing the  tenets  of  their  school.  Much  time  was 
spent  in  gathering  fruits  and  roots  for  their  susten- 
ance, or  in  going  into  the  village  for  alms.  And 
there  was  difference  of  opinion,  and  of  practice,  as 
to  the  comparative  importance  attached  to  the  learn- 
ing of  texts.  But  the  hermitages  where  the  learn- 
ing, or  the  repeating,  of  texts  was  unknown  were 
the  exceptions. 

Then,  besides  the  Hermits,  there  was  another 
body  of  men,  greatly  respected  throughout  the 
country,  quite  peculiar  to  India,  and  not  known 
even  there  much  before  the  rise  of  Buddhism,  called 
the  Wanderers  ( Paribbdjaka ).  They  were  teachers, 
or  sophists,  who  spent  eight  or  nine  months  of  every 
year  wandering  about  precisely  with  the  object  of 
engaging  in  conversational  discussions  on  matters  of 
ethics  and  philosophy,  nature  lore  and  mysticism. 
Like  the  sophists  among  the  Greeks,  they  differed 
very  much  in  intelligence,  in  earnestness,  and  in 
honesty.  Some  are  described  as  “ Eel-wrigglers,” 
“ Hair-splitters,”  and  not  without  reason  if  we  may 
fairly  judge  from  the  specimens  of  their  lucubrations 
preserved  by  their  opponents.1  But  there  must 
have  been  many  of  a very  different  character,  or  the 
high  reputation  they  enjoyed,  as  a body,  would 
scarcely  have  been  maintained.  We  hear  of  halls 
put  up  for  their  accommodation,  for  the  discussion 
by  them  of  their  systems  of  belief.  Such  was  “ The 
Hall  ” in  Queen  Mallika’s  park  at  Savatthi,2  and  the 
“Gabled  Pavilion”  put  up  by  the  Licchavi  clan  in 

1 Dialogues  of  Ike  Buddha , 1.  37,  38.  2 Ibid.,  p.  244. 


142 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  Great  Wood  adjoining  their  capital  of  Vesali, 
and  often  mentioned  in  the  books  as  the  resort  of 
the  Wanderers.  Or  a special  space  was  set  apart  for 
them  in  the  groves  adjoining  the  settlement, — such 
were  the  sweet-smelling  Champaka  Grove  on  the 
borders  of  the  lake  dug  out  by  Queen  Gaggara  at 
Champa1;  the  Mora-nivapa,  the  place  where  the 
peacocks  were  fed,  at  Rajagaha,2  and  others. 

The  Wanderers  are  often  represented  as  meeting 
one  another  at  such  places,  or  at  the  rest-houses 
( chowltries ) which  it  was  a prevalent  custom  for  vil- 
lagers to  put  up  on  the  roadside  for  the  common 
use  of  travellers.  And  they  were  in  the  habit,  on 
their  journeys,  of  calling  on  other  Wanderers,  or  on 
the  learned  brahmins,  or  on  the  Hermits,  resident  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  places  where  they  stopped. 
So  Dlgha-nakha  calls  on  the  Buddha,3  the  Buddha 
visits  Sakuludayi,4  Vekhanassa  calls  on  the  Buddha,6 
Keniya  does  the  same,6  and  Potali-putta  calls  on 
Samiddhi.7  The  residents  also,  both  to  testify 
respect  and  to  listen  to  their  talk,  used  to  call  on 
the  Wanderers  when  the  latter  stayed  in  or  near  a 
village — evidence  both  of  the  popularity  of  the 
Wanderers,  and  of  the  frequent  interchange  of 
opinion. 

The  Wanderers,  some  of  whom  were  women,  were 
not  ascetics,  except  so  far  as  they  were  celibates. 
The  practices  of  self-mortification  are  always  re- 
ferred to  as  carried  out  by  the  Hermits  in  the  woods. 
The  Buddha,  before  he  attained  Nirvana  under  the 

' Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 144.  4 M.  2.  i.  29.  6 S.  N.  p.  99. 

2 M.  2.  1.  3 M.  1.  497.  6 M.  2.  40.  . 7 M.  3.  207. 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


H3 


Tree  of  Wisdom,  had  been  such  a self-torturer 
( tapasa ) in  the  woods  on  the  banks  of  the  Nerah- 
jara.  Thenceforward  he  became  a Wanderer.  It 
was  easy  to  pass  from  one  career  to  the  other.  But 
they  were  quite  distinct,  were  spoken  of  by  different 
names,  and  in  the  priestly  law-books  we  find  quite 
different  regulations  laid  down  for  the  Hermits  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  Wanderers  on  the  other.1 

We  have  the  names  of  a considerable  number  of 
the  individuals  in  both  of  these  classes.  And  not 
only  the  personal  names.  In  those  cases  when  a 
number  of  individuals  acknowledged  the  leader- 
ship of  one  teacher,  or  adhered  to  the  same  set  of 
opinions  (whether  attributed  to  one  teacher  or  not), 
they  had  also  corporate  names.  Thus  the  members 
of  that  Order  which  we  call  the  Buddhist  Order 
were  called  Sakyaputtlya  Samanas.  Each  order  was 
called  a Sangha.  The  members  of  the  Sangha  which 
we  call  the  Jain  Order  were  called  the  Niganthas, 
“The  Unfettered.”  There  was  an  Order  the  mem- 
bers of  which  were  called  the  Ajivakd , the  “ Men  of 
the  Livelihood.”  Both  of  these  orders  were  older 
than  the  Buddhist.  The  Jains  have  remained  as  an 
organised  community  all  through  - the  history  of 
India  from  before  the  rise  of  Buddhism  down  to 
to-day.  The  Ajlvakas  still  existed  as  an  organised 
community  down  to  the  time  of  Asoka’s  grandson 
Dasaratha,  who  gave  them,  as  we  learn  from  the  in- 
scriptions on  the  caves,  certain  cave-hermitages. 
They  have  long  ago  died  out.  And  with  the  dis- 

1 The  references  are  collected  in  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , x.  pp. 
20S-212,  221. 


144 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


appearance  of  the  Order,  the  Suttas  containing  their 
ideas  have  vanished  also.  For  during  a long  period 
they  existed  only  in  the  memories  of  the  members 
of  the  Order ; and  even  after  writing  was  applied  to 
the  preservation  of  such  literary  works,  it  was  only 
the  members  of  the  Order  or  lay  adherents  of  the 
school  who  would  copy  them.  There  are  many 
references1  in  Jain  and  Buddhist  books  to  this  Or- 
der, and  to  the  opinions  they  professed.  And  it 
will  be  possible,  when  these  have  been  fully  com- 
pared and  summarised,  to  arrive  at  a more  or  less 
complete  and  accurate  view  of  their  tenets. 

The  names  of  other  orders,  of  which  we  know 
little  more  than  the  names,  have  been  preserved  in 
the  Anguttara.3  And  the  existence  of  at  least  two 
or  three  others  can  be  inferred  from  incidental  refer- 
ences. There  is  still  in  existence  a Vaikhanasa 
Sutra,  of  about  the  third  century  A.D.,  which  pur- 
ports to  contain  the  rules  of  an  Order  founded  by 
one  Vikhanas.  It  has  just  been  mentioned  that  a 
certain  Vekhanassa,  a Wanderer,  called  on  the  Bud- 
dha. It  is  not  improbable  that  he  belonged  to  that 
Order.  In  a note  on  Panini,  iv.  3.  no,  there  are 
mentioned  two  brahmin  orders,  the  Karmandinas 
and  the  Parasarinas.  Now  in  the  Majjhima  (3.  298) 
the  opinions  of  a certain  Parasariya,  a brahmin 
teacher,  are  discussed  by  the  Buddha.  It  is  very 
probable  that  he  was  either  the  founder  or  an  ad- 
herent of  the  second  of  these  schools.  In  any  case 
the  Order  still  existed  at  the  time  when  the  note 

' Collected  in  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 1.  pp.  71,  221. 

2 Ibid.  p.  220. 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


145 


to  Panini  was  made;  and  it  is  probably  referred  to 
in  an  inscription  mentioned  by  Cunningham.1 

Of  the  other  schools  or  corporate  bodies  of  Wan- 
derers, or  of  Hermits,  only  the  names  are  known. 
But  as  even  the  names  throw  light  on  the  movement 
they  may  here  be  mentioned.2  They  are  : 

1.  Munda-savaka. — “The  disciples  of  the  Shave- 
ling.” 

2.  Jatilakd .—  “ Those  who  wear  their  hair  in 
braids.”  To  do  so  was  the  rule  for  those  of  the 
Hermits  who  were  brahmins,  and  perhaps  other  her- 
mits also  did  so.  In  that  case  they  cannot  have 
formed  one  corporate  body. 

3.  Magandika. — This  name  is  probably  derived 
from  the  name  of  the  founder  of  a corporate  body. 
But  all  their  records  have  perished,  and  we  know 
nothing  of  them  otherwise. 

4.  Tcdandika. — “ The  bearers  of  the  triple  staff.” 
This  is  probably  the  name  given,  in  the  Buddhist 
community,  to  those  of  the  Wanderers  (not  Her- 
mits) who  were  brahmins.  They  were  not  allowed, 
by  their  rules,  to  wear  their  hair  in  braids,  but  must 
either  have  their  heads  shaved  entirely,  or  so  shaved 
as  to  leave  a forelock  only. 

5.  Aviruddhaka. — “The  friends.”  We  know  as 
yet  nothing  otherwise  about  them. 

6.  Gotainaka. — “ The  followers  of  Gotama.”  These 
are  almost  certainly  the  followers  of  Devadatta,  the 
Buddha’s  cousin,  who  founded  an  Order  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  Buddhist  Order,  on  the  ground  that  the 

1 Archeological  Reports , xx.  105. 

2 For  references  see  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , pp.  220-222. 


146 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


latter  was  too  eas}r-going  in  its  regulations  as  to 
food,  and  did  not  favour  asceticism. 

7.  Devadhammika. — “ Those  who  follow  the  re- 
ligion of  the  gods”  or  perhaps  “ of  the  god.”  On 
neither  interpretation  do  we  know  the  exact  mean- 
ing of  the  term. 

We  find  in  this  curious  list  several  names,  used 
technically  as  the  designation  of  particular  orders, 
or  bodies  of  religicux,  but  in  meaning  applicable 
quite  as  much  to  most  of  the  others.  They  all 
claimed  to  be  pure  as  regards  means  of  livelihood 
(like  the  Ajlvakas) ; to  be  unfettered  (like  the 
Niganthas)  ; to  be  friends  (like  the  Aviruddhakas) ; 
they  were  all,  except  the  Jatilakas,  Wanderers,  they 
were  all  mendicants  (Bhikshus).  The  names  can 
only  gradually  have  come  to  have  the  special  mean- 
ing of  the  member  of  one  division  or  order,  only. 
We  find  a similar  state  of  things  in  the  names  of 
Christian  sects  in  England  to-day.  And  a consider- 
able time  must  have  elapsed  before  the  names  could 
thus  have  become  specialised. 

All  this  is  very  suggestive  from  more  than  one 
point  of  view.  And  as  some  of  these  points  are  of 
the  first  importance  for  a right  understanding  of  the 
questions  of  language  and  literature,  I may  be  al- 
lowed to  enlarge  a little  on  one  or  two  of  them.  It 
is  clear,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  was  no  obstacle, 
arising  from  diversity  of  language,  to  intercourse  — 
and  that  not  merely  as  regards  ordinary  conversa- 
tion about  the  ordinary  necessities  of  daily  life,  but 
as  regards  philosophical  and  religious  discussions  of 
a subtle  and  earnest  kind.  The  common  language 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


147 


thus  widely  understood  — used  from  the  land  of  the 
Kurus  in  the  west  to  Magadha  in  the  east,  north- 
wards at  Savatthi  and  Kusinara  in  the  Nepal  hills, 
and  southwards  in  one  direction  as  far  as  Ujjen  — 
could  not  have  been  Sanskrit.  Classical  Sanskrit 
was  not  yet  in  existence  ; and  the  language  used  in 
the  Brahmanas  was  neither  sufficiently  known  out- 
side the  widely  scattered  schools  of  the  brahmins, 
nor  of  a nature  to  lend  itself  easily  to  such  discus- 
sions. The  very  last  thing  one  would  say  of  it 
would  be  to  call  it  a conversational  idiom.  Neither 
is  it  probable  that  each  one  could  have  spoken  in 
the  dialect  of  the  peasantry  of  his  own  place  of 
origin.  It  would  have  been  impossible  to  use  such 
a dialect  for  the  discussion  of  such  subjects  as  are 
described  as  the  matter  of  these  dialogues. 

The  only  reasonable  and  probable  explanation  is 
that  the  Wanderers  talked  in  a language  common 
among  the  cultured  laity  (officials,  nobles,  mer- 
chants, and  others),  which  bore  to  the  local  dialects 
much  the  same  relation  as  the  English  of  London, 
in  Shakespeare’s  time,  bore  to  the  various  dialects 
spoken  in  Somersetshire,  Yorkshire,  and  Essex. 
The  growth  of  such  a language  had  only  just  then 
become  possible.  It  was  greatly  promoted  by  (if 
not,  indeed,  the  immediate  result  of)  the  growth  of 
the  great  kingdom  of  Kosala.  This  included,  just 
before  the  rise  of  Buddhism,  all,  and  more  than 
all,  of  the  present  United  Provinces.  And  it  gave 
occasion  and  security  for  peaceful  intercourse,  both 
of  a commercial  and  of  an  official  kind,  from  one 
end  to  the  other  of  its  extensive  territory.  It  was 


1 48 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


precisely  these  political  conditions  which  favoured 
also  the  rapid  growth  of  the  institution  or  custom  of 
the  Wanderers,  of  whom  we  have  no  evidence  prior 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Kosalan  power,  and  who 
doubtless  contributed  much  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  more  intellectual  side  of  the  common  language 
which  was  enabled  to  grow  up  under  the  protective 
shield  of  the  Kosalan  peace. 

The  question  has  been  much  complicated  and 
obscured  by  the  impressions  derived  from  the  San- 
skrit dramas  which  early  in  the  history  of  our  ac- 
quaintance with  Indian  literature  became  known  to 
Europeans.  In  them  the  men  of  any  social  stand- 
ing speak  Sanskrit,  except  occasionally  when  ad- 
dressing women.  And  even  the  women,  especially 
those  of  higher  rank,  are  supposed  to  understand, 
and  occasionally,  mostly  when  verses  are  put  into 
their  mouths,  to  speak  it.  Otherwise  in  the  dramas 
the  characters  talk,  not  the  vernacular,  but  the 
literary  Prakrits.1 

It  is  probable,  even  at  the  time  when  the  dramas 
were  written,  that  as  a matter  of  fact  every  one, 
in  ordinary  daily  life,  spoke  neither  Sanskrit  nor 
Prakrit,  but  simply  the  vernaculars.  It  is  only  the 
authors,  when  addressing  a cultured  public  at  a 
date  when  Sanskrit  had  become  the  paramount 
literary  language,  who  thought  it  proper,  in  their 
dramas,  to  divide  up  the  speeches  between  Sanskrit 
and  the  equally  unreal  literary  Prakrits.  But  how- 
ever that  may  be,  even  if  Sanskrit  were  then  used 

1 See  the  instances  collected  by  Pischel,  Grammatik  der  Prakrit- 
sprachen , pp.  31,  32. 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


I49 


by  ordinary  people  in  their  daily  intercourse, — 
which  seems  to  me  quite  incredible, — that  is  still 
of  no  value  at  all  as  evidence  of  the  condition 
of  things  twelve  centuries  before,  in  a much  more 
simple  and  natural  state  of  society. 

Another  point  is  that  though  brahmins  take  part 
in  the  religious  and  philosophical  conversations  of 
those  early  times,  and  in  the  accounts  of  them  are 
always  referred  to  with  respect,  and  treated  with 
the  same  courtesy  that  they  always  themselves 
(with  one  or  two  instructive  exceptions)  extended 
also  to  others,  yet  they  hold  no  predominant  po- 
sition. The  majority  of  the  Wanderers,  and  the 
most  influential  individuals  among  them,  are  not 
brahmins.  And  the  general  impression  conveyed 
by  the  texts  is  that  the  Wanderers  and  other  non- 
priestly  teachers  were  quite  as  much,  if  not  more 
esteemed  than  the  brahmins  by  the  whole  people — - 
kings,  nobles,  officials,  merchants,  artisans,  and 
peasantry. 

“ But  that  is  only  a matter  of  course,”  will  be  the 
obvious  objection.  “ The  books  you  quote,  if  not 
the  work  of  bitter  opponents,  were  at  least  com- 
posed under  rajput  influence,  and  are  prejudiced 
against  the  brahmins.  The  law-books  and  the  epics 
represent  the  brahmins  as  the  centre  round  which 
everything  in  India  turns ; and  that  not  only  be- 
cause of  the  sacredness  of  their  persons,  but  because 
of  their  marked  intellectual  superiority  to  the  rest 
of  the  people.  Or  take  the  European  books  on 
Indian  literature  and  religion.  They  treat  these 
subjects  as  practically  identical  with  literature  and 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


150 

religion  as  shown  in  brahmin  books.  Surely,  then, 
the  brahmins  must  have  been  predominant  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  period  you  are  considering.” 

“ These  are  not  two  independent  testimonies,” 
one  would  reply.  “ The  European  writers  would 
be  perfectly  willing  to  consider  other  texts,  if  they 
only  had  them.  They  have  been  perfectly  right 
in  using  the  material  before  them.  And  in  editing 
texts  they  naturally  chose  first  those  nearest  at 
hand.  But  even  so,  with  practically  only  priestly 
books  to  judge  by,  the)'’  are  by  no  means  unani- 
mous in  accepting  the  views  of  those  texts  as  to 
the  exclusive  supremacy  of  the  brahmins  in  early 
times.” 

Consider,  for  instance,  the  opinion  of  Profes- 
sor Bhandarkar — himself,  be  it  noted,  a high-caste 
brahmin,  and  not  only  the  most  distinguished  of 
native  scholars,  but  so  versed  in  the  methods  of 
historical  criticism  that  his  opinion  is  entitled  to 
special  weight.  In  a strikingly  suggestive  and  im- 
portant paper  1 he  calls  attention  to  the  evidence 
of  the  inscriptions.  In  the  second  century  after 
Christ  they  begin  to  record  grants  of  land  to 
brahmins.  In  the  third  there  are  also  a few  in- 
stances. From  the  fourth  century  onwards  there 
are  quite  numerous  inscriptions  showing  a marked 
rise  in  brahmin  influence.  The  Gupta  kings  are 
then  stated  to  have  carried  out  the  most  com- 
plicated and  expensive  sacrifices,  such  as  the  Horse- 
sacrifice.  Each  of  two  inscriptions  records  the 

1 Journal  of  the  Bombay  Branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society 
for  igor. 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE  I 5 I 

erection  of  a sacrificial  post,  another  an  endow- 
ment for  lighting  lamps  in  a temple  to  the  sun. 
There  are  grants  of  villages  for  the  performance 
of  sacrificial  rites;  and  numerous  grants  of  land 
to  brahmins,  and  to  the  temples  in  their  charge. 
But  for  the  four  centuries  before  that  (that  is  to 
say,  from  300  B.C.  to  100  A.D.)  no  brahmin,  no 
brahmin  temple,  no  brahmin  god,  no  sacrifice  or 
ritualistic  act  of  any  kind  is  ever,  even  once,  re- 
ferred to.  There  is  a very  large  number  of  gifts 
recorded  as  given  by  kings,  princes,  and  chiefs, 
by  merchants,  goldsmiths,  artisans,  and  ordinary 
householders ; but  not  one  of  them  is  given  in 
support  of  anything — of  any  opinion  or  divinity 
or  practice — with  which  the  brahmins  had  anything 
to  do.  And  whereas  the  later  inscriptions,  favour- 
ing the  brahmins  and  their  special  sacrifices,  are 
in  Sanskrit,  these  earlier  ones,  in  which  they  are 
not  mentioned,  are  in  a sort  of  Pali — not  in  the 
local  vernacular  of  the  place  where  the  inscriptions 
are  found,  but  in  a dialect  similar,  in  many  essential 
respects,  to  the  dialect  for  common  intercourse, 
based  on  the  vernacular,  which,  I suggest,  the 
Wanderers  must  have  used,  in  their  discussions, 
at  the  time  when  Buddhism  arose. 

This  marked  distinction  in  the  inscriptions  of  the 
two  periods — both  as  to  the  object  of  the  gifts  they 
record,  and  as  to  the  language  in  which  they  are 
written— leads  Professor  Bhandarkar  to  the  follow- 
ing conclusion  : 

“ The  period  that  we  have  been  speaking  of  [that  is. 


152 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


from  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  b.c.  to  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century  after]  has  left  no  trace  of 
a building  or  sculpture  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
Brahmin  religion.  Of  course  Brahminism  existed  ; and 
it  was  probably,  during  the  period,  being  developed 
into  the  form  which  it  assumed  in  later  times.  But  the 
religion  certainly  does  not  occupy  a prominent  position, 
and  Buddhism  was  followed  by  the  large  mass  of  the 
people  from  princes  down  to  the  humble  workman.” 
And  he  goes  on  to  say  that  the  language  of  the  earlier 
inscriptions  “ indicates  a greater  deference  for  the  peo- 
ple who  used  it,  than  for  Brahmanic  learning.” 

If  this  opinion  be  accepted  as  accurate  for  that 
period  (200  B.C.-400  A.D.) — and  it  certainly  seems 
incontrovertible — then,  a fortiori , it  must  be  ac- 
cepted in  yet  larger  measure  for  the  period  four 
centuries  earlier.  As  Professor  Hopkins  says'  : 

“Brahminism  has  always  been  an  island  in  a sea. 
Even  in  the  Brahmanic  age  there  is  evidence  to  show 
that  it  was  the  isolated  belief  of  a comparatively 
small  group  of  minds.  It  did  not  even  control  all 
the  Aryan  population.” 

With  regard  to  the  inscriptions,  M.  Senart  has 
shown  conclusively,  by  an  exhaustive  study  of  the 
whole  subject,  that  they  at  no  time,  either  in  spelling 
or  in  vocabulary,  present  us  with  a faithful  picture  of 
any  vernacular.  The  degree  in  which  they  become 
more  and  more  nearly  allied  to  Sanskrit  is  a curious 
and  interesting  barometer  by  which  we  can  gauge 
the  approach  of  the  impending  revolution  in  politics, 
religion,  and  literature.  And  the  gradual  change  in 
1 Religions  of  India  (1896),  p.  548. 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


153 


their  form,  though  that  form  never  gives  us  the  real 
vernacular,  is  an  invaluable  assistance  in  establishing 
the  linguistic  history  of  India.  To  treat  that  ques- 
tion at  all  fully,  even  in  an  elementary  manner, 
would  demand  at  least  a volume.  But  the  main 
features  may  be  summarised  as  follows.  We  have, 
in  the  following  order  (as  to  time) : 

1.  The  dialects  spoken  by  the  Aryan  invaders  of 
India,  and  by  the  Dravidian  and  Kolarian  inhabitants 
they  found  there. 

2.  Ancient  High  Indian,  the  Vedic. 

3.  The  dialects  spoken  by  the  Aryans,  now  often 
united  by  marriage  and  by  political  union  with  the 
Dravidians,  in  their  settlements  either  along  the 
spurs  of  the  Himalaya  range  from  Kashmir  to 
Nepal,  or  down  the  Indus  Valley  and  then  across 
to  Avanti,  or  along  the  valleys  of  the  Jumna  and 
the  Ganges. 

4.  Second  High  Indian,  Brahmanic,  the  literary 
language  of  the  Brahmanas  and  Upanishads. 

5.  The  vernaculars  from  Gandhara  to  Magadha  at 
the  time  of  the  rise  of  Buddhism,  not  so  divergent 
probably  as  not  to  be  more  or  less  mutually  intel- 
ligible. 

6.  A conversational  dialect,  based  probably  on  the 
local  dialect  of  Savatthi,  the  capital  of  Kosala,  and 
in  general  use  among  Kosala  officials,  among  mer- 
chants, and  among  the  more  cultured  classes,  not 
only  throughout  the  Kosala  dominions,  but  east 
and  west  from  Delhi  to  Patna,  and  north  and  south 
from  Savatthi  to  Avanti. 

7.  Middle  High  Indian,  Pali,  the  literary  language 


154 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


based  on  No.  6,  probably  in  the  form  in  which  it  was 
spoken  in  Avanti. 

8.  The  Asoka  dialect,  founded  on  No.  6,  especially 
as  spoken  at  Patna,  but  much  influenced  by  the  aim 
at  approximation  to  Nos.  7 and  II. 

9.  The  Ardha-Magadhi,  the  dialect  of  the  Jain 
Angas. 

10.  The  Lena1  dialect  of  the  cave  inscriptions 
from  the  second  century  B.C.  onwards,  based  on  No. 
8,  but  approximating  more  and  more  to  the  next, 
No.  11,  until  it  merges  altogether  into  it. 

11.  Standard  High  Indian,  Sanskrit — elaborated, 
as  to  form  and  vocabulary,  out  of  No.  4 ; but  greatly 
enriched  by  words  first  taken  from  Nos.  5 to  7,  and 
then  brought  back,  as  to  form,  into  harmony  with 
No.  4.  For  long  the  literary  language  only  of  the 
priestly  schools,  it  was  first  used  in  inscriptions  and 
coins  from  the  second  century  A.D.  onwards  ; and 
from  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  onwards  became 
the  literary  lingua  franca  for  all  India. 

12.  The  vernaculars  of  the  India  of  the  fifth  cent- 
ury A.D.  and  onwards. 

13.  Prakrit,  the  literary  form  of  these  vernaculars, 
and  especially  of  Maharashtri.  These  are  derived, 
not  from  No.  11  (Sanskrit),  but  from  No.  12,  the 
later  forms  of  the  sister  dialects  to  No.  6. 

The  technical  terms  Sanskrit  and  Prakrit  are  used 
strictly,  in  India,  as  shown  in  Nos.  11  and  13.  San- 
skrit is  never  used  for  No.  2 or  No.  4.  Prakrit  is 
never  used  for  No.  7 or  No.  8.  Sanskrit  was,  and  is, 

' This  is  the  name  suggested  by  Professor  Pischel,  Grammatik  der 
Prakritsprachen , 1901,  p.  5. 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


»55 


written  in  India  in  various  alphabets,  a scribe  in  the 
north  using  that  form  of  the  Brahml  alphabet  cur- 
rent in  the  district  in  which  he  wrote,  and  a scribe  in 
the  south  using  the  corresponding  form  of  the  Dra- 
vidian  alphabet.  The  particular  one  of  these  many 
alphabets  usually  selected  for  use  in  Europe  is  an 
alphabet  from  Western  India  of  the  ninth  century 
A.D. ; and  it  is,  therefore,  often  called  the  Sanskrit 
alphabet. 

As  appears  from  the  foregoing  list,  the  centre  of 
linguistic  predominance  has  naturally  shifted,  in 
India,  with  political  power.  At  first  it  was  in  the 
Panjab;  then  in  Kosala ; then  in  Magadha;  and 
finally,  when  Sanskrit  had  become  the  lingua  franca , 
it  was  in  Western  India  that  the  most  important  ver- 
nacular was  found.  It  is  only  in  Ceylon  that  we 
have  documents  sufficient  to  follow  the  continuous 
development  of  a vernacular  that  has  been  able  to 
hold  its  own  against  the  depressing  influence  of 
the  dead  language  used  in  the  schools.  And  the 
relation  there  between  the  vernacular,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  inscriptions  (based  on  the  vernacular, 
but  subject  to  the  constant  and  increasing  influence 
of  a desire  to  show  knowledge  of  the  “higher” 
languages),  the  language  used  in  poetry,  Elu  (the 
Prakrit  of  Ceylon),  and  Pali,  which  was  there  a 
dead  language,  used  in  the  schools,  is  most  in- 
structively parallel,  throughout,  to  the  history  of 
language  in  India. 

Throughout  the  long  history  of  Aryan  speech 
Dravidian  dialects  were  also  spoken  ; and  in  the 
north,  I venture  to  think,  to  a much  larger  ex- 


56 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


tent  and  much  later  in  time  than  is  usually  sup- 
posed. Our  No.  2,  Vedic,  is  largely  subject  to 
Dravidian  influence,  both  in  phonetics  and  in  vo- 
cabulary. The  Aryan  vernaculars  throughout,  and 
all  the  literary  forms  of  speech, — Pali,  Sanskrit,  and 
Prakrit, — are  charged  with  it  in  a degree  no  less 
than  that  in  which  the  descent  and  the  blood-rela- 
tionships of  the  many  peoples  of  India  are  charged 
with  non-Aryan  elements  — and  that  is  saying  a 
great  deal. 

The  fact  that  south  of  the  Godavari  we  find  the 
reverse  state  of  things  — Dravidian  dialects  charged 
with  Aryan  elements  — shows  that  the  Aryan  settle- 
ments there  were  late,  and  not  very  important  in 
regard  to  numbers.  And  it  took  a long  time,  in 
spite  of  a fair  sprinkling  of  brahmin  colonists,  for 
the  brahmin  influence,  now  so  supreme,  to  reach 
its  supremacy  in  those  parts.  The  mass  of  the  more 
wealthy  classes,  and  the  more  cultured  people,  in 
the  south,  were  Buddhists  and  Jain  before  they 
were  Hindu  in  faith.  As  late  as  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries  we  have  Pali  books  written  in  Kancipura 
and  Taftjur;  and  as  Buddhism  declined  Jainism  be- 
came predominant.  It  was  only  after  the  rise  of 
brahmin  influence  in  Northern  India  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries,  and  after  it  had  become  well 
established  there,  that  it  became  the  chief  factor  also 
in  the  south.  But  when  once  it  had  reached  that 
stage,  it  developed  so  strongly  as  to  react  with  great 
results  on  the  north,  where  the  final  victory  was 
actually  won  during  the  period  from  Kumarila  to 
Sankara  (70 o to  830  A.D.),  both  of  them  born  in  the 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


157 


south,  and  one  of  them,  apparently,  of  half  Dra- 
vidian  blood. 

The  victory  was  won.  But  how  far  was  it  a vic- 
tory ? The  brahmins  had  become  the  sole  arbiters 
in  law  and  social  institutions.  Their  theory  of 
castes  had  been  admitted,  and  to  their  own  castes 
was  accorded  an  unquestioned  supremacy.  Their 
claim  to  the  exclusive  right  to  teach  was  practically 
acknowledged.  Of  those  rajputs  who  had  disputed 
their  authority,  the  Buddhists  and  Jains  were  both 
reduced  to  feeble  minorities,  and  the  rest  had  be- 
come mostly  subservient.  All  philosophy,  except 
their  own  pantheistic  theosophy,  had  been  driven 
out  of  the  field.  But  Vedic  rights  and  Yedic  di- 
vinities, the  Vedic  language  and  Vedic  theology, 
had  also  gone  under  in  the  struggle.  The  gods  of 
the  people  received  now  the  homage  of  the  people. 
Bloody  sacrifices  were  still  occasionally  offered,  but 
to  new  divinities;  and  brahmins  no  longer  presided 
over  the  ritual.  Their  literature  had  had  to  be  re- 
cast to  suit  the  new  worship,  to  gain  the  favour  and 
support  of  those  who  did  not  reverence  and  worship 
the  Vedic  gods.  And  all  sense  of  history  had  been 
lost  in  the  necessity  of  garbling  the  story  of  the  past 
so  as  to  make  it  tally  with  their  own  pretensions. 
It  was  when  they  had  ceased  to  depend  on  their 
rights  as  priests  of  those  sacrifices  not  much  used 
by  the  people  (who  preferred  the  less  costly  cult 
of  their  local  gods),  when  they  had  become  the 
champions,  the  literary  defenders,  the  poets,  of  the 
popular  gods,  that  they  succeeded  in  their  aim. 
They  had  probably  gained  what  most  of  them 


158 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


wanted  most.  And  in  deserting  the  faith  of  their 
forefathers  to  adopt  other  views  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  they  were  not  first  really  converted, 
that  they  gave  up  anything  they  themselves  still 
wanted  to  keep.  The  most  able  of  them  had  ceased 
philosophically  to  care  for  any  such  divinities  as 
the  Vedic  ones,  and  it  was  a matter  of  indifference 
to  them  what  gods  the  people  followed.  A small 
and  decreasing  minority  continued  to  keep  alive  the 
flickering  lamp  of  Vedic  learning  ; and  to  them  the 
Indian  peoples  will  one  day  look  back  with  especial 
gratitude  and  esteem. 

This  rapid  sketch  of  the  general  history  of  lan- 
guage and  literature  in  India  is  enough  to  show  that 
there  also,  precisely  as  in  Europe,  a dominant  factor 
in  the  story  is  the  contest  between  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  powers.  Guelph  and  Ghibelin,  priest  and 
noble,  rajput  and  brahmin,  these  are  the  contending 
forces.  From  India  we  had  had  hitherto  only  that 
version  of  the  long  war,  of  its  causes  and  of  its  con- 
sequences, which  has  been  preserved  by  the  priestly 
faction.  They  make  out  that  they  were  throughout 
the  leading  party.  Perhaps  so.  But  it  is  well  to 
consider  also  the  other  side  ; and  not  to  forget  the 
gravity  of  the  error  we  should  commit  if  we  should 
happen,  in  reliance  on  the  priestly  books,  to  ante- 
date, by  about  a thousand  years,  the  victory  of  the 
priests;  to  suppose,  in  other  words,  that  the  con- 
dition of  things  was  the  same  at  the  beginning  of  the 
struggle  as  it  was  at  the  end. 

It  is  difficult  to  avoid  being  misunderstood.  So  I 
would  repeat  that  the  priests  were  always  there, 


LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 


*59 


were  always  militant,  were  always  a power.  Many 
of  them  were  learned.  A few  of  them,  seldom  the 
learned  ones,  were  wealthy.  All  of  them,  even  those 
neither  learned  nor  wealthy,  had  a distinct  prestige. 
There  was  never  wanting  among  them  a minority  dis- 
tinguished, and  rightly  distinguished,  for  earnestness 
or  for  intellectual  power,  or  for  both.  This  minority 
contributed  largely  to  the  influence  of  forward  move- 
ments both  in  philosophy  and  in  ethics.  Certain 
members  of  it  were  famous  as  leaders,  not  only  in 
the  brahmin  schools,  but  also  among  the  Wanderers. 
Even  among  the  Jains  and  Buddhists  a minority  of 
the  most  influential  men  were  brahmins.  But  it  is 
a question  of  degree.  Their  own  later  books  per- 
sistently exaggerate,  misstate,  above  all  (that 
most  successful  method  of  suggcstio  falsi ) omit  the 
other  side.  They  have  thus  given  a completely  dis- 
torted view  of  Indian  society,  and  of  the  place,  in  it, 
of  the  priests.  They  were  not  the  only  learned,  or 
the  only  intellectual  men,  any  more  than  they  were 
the  only  wealthy  ones.  The  religion  and  the  customs 
recorded  in  their  books  were  not,  at  any  period,  the 
sole  religion,  or  the  only  customs,  of  the  many 
peoples  of  India.  The  intellectual  movement  before 
the  rise  of  Buddhism  was  in  large  measure  a lay 
movement,  not  a priestly  one.  During  the  sub- 
sequent centuries,  down  to  the  Christian  era,  and 
beyond  it,  the  priests  were  left  high  and  dry  by  the 
vigorous  current  of  the  national  aims  and  hopes. 
Even  later  than  that  how  different  is  the  colouring 
of  the  picture  drawn  by  the  Chinese  pilgrims  from 
that  of  the  priestly  artists.  And  we  shall  continue 


i6o 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


to  have  but  a blurred  and  confused  idea  of  Indian 
history  unless,  and  until,  the  priestly  views  are 
checked  and  supplemented  throughout  by  a just 
and  proportionate  use  of  the  other  views  now  open 
to  research. 


CHAPTER  X 
LITERATURE 
II.  THE  PALI  BOOKS 

IN  the  last  chapter  we  have  seen  that  in  the  sixth 
century  B.C.  there  was  in  India  a very  considerable 
amount  of  literature  of  a special  sort.  Hampered 
as  it  was  by  the  absence  of  written  books,  by  the 
necessity  of  learning  by  heart,  and  of  constantly 
repeating,  the  treatises  in  which  it  was  contained, 
the  extent  of  the  literature  is  evidence  of  a consider- 
able degree  both  of  intelligence  and  of  earnestness 
in  effort  among  the  people  of  India  in  those  days. 
A great  deal  of  it,  perhaps  the  larger  portion  of  it, 
has  absolutely  perished.  But  a considerable  part  of 
the  results  of  the  literary  activity  of  each  of  three 
different  schools  has  survived.  It  is  by  a compari- 
son of  three  sets  of  documents,  each  of  them  looking 
at  things  from  a different  point  of  view,  that  we  have 
to  reconstruct  the  history  of  the  time. 

Of  these  three  the  surviving  books  — if  books  they 
may  be  called  which  had  never  yet  been  written  — 
composed  and  used  by  those  of  the  brahmins  who 

161 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


1 62 

earned  their  livelihood  by  the  sacrifices,  have  been 
now,  for  the  most  part,  edited  and  translated  ; and  a 
large  part  of  the  historical  results  to  be  won  from 
them  have  been  summarised  and  explained.  But 
much  remains  to  be  done.  The  documents  of  the 
other  two  schools  may  be  expected  to  throw  fresh 
light  on  passages  in  the  brahmin  books  now  mis- 
understood. The  unhappy  system  of  taking  these 
ancient  records  in  the  sense  attributed  to  them  by 
modern  commentators  with  much  local  knowledge 
but  no  historical  criticism,  with  great  learning  but 
also  with  considerable  party  bias,  was  very  naturally 
adopted  at  first  by  European  scholars  who  had  ev- 
erything to  learn.  The  most  practical,  indeed  the 
only  then  possible,  course  was  to  avail  oneself  of  the 
assistance  of  those  commentaries,  or  of  the  living 
pandits  whose  knowledge  was  entirely  based  upon 
them.  In  the  interpretation  of  the  Vedic  hymns 
this  method,  followed  in  Wilson’s  translation,  has 
now  been  finally  abandoned.  But  it  still  survives  in 
many  places  in  the  interpretation  of  the  documents 
nearest  to  the  date  of  the  rise  of  Buddhism.  And 
we  still  find,  for  instance,  in  the  most  popular 
versions  of  the  Upanishads,  opinions  that  are  really 
the  outcome  of  centuries  of  philosophic  or  theosophic 
discussions,  transplanted  from  the  pages  of  Sankara 
in  the  ninth  century  A.D.  into  these  ancient  texts  of 
the  eighth  or  seventh  century  B.C. 

This  method  of  interpretation  takes  effect  in  two 
ways.  A passage  in  the  vague  and  naive  style  of 
those  old  thinkers  (or,  rather,  poets)  is  made  more 
exact  and  precise,  is  given  what  is,  no  doubt,  a 


LI  TER  A TURE 


163 

clearer  meaning,  by  putting  into  it  the  later  ideas. 
And  in  the  translation  of  single  words,  especially 
those  of  philosophic  or  ethical  import,  a connotation, 
which  they  had  really  acquired  many  centuries  after- 
wards, is  held  applicable  at  the  earlier  date.  In  both 
these  cases  a better  commentary  could  be  drawn 
from  the  general  views,  and  from  the  exact  meaning 
oi  philosophic  terms,  preserved  in  documents  much 
nearer  in  time  to  the  Upanishads,  though  opposed  to 
them  on  many  essential  points.  As  Professor  Jacobi 
says  1 : 

“The  records  of  the  Buddhists  and  Jainas  about 
the  philosophic  ideas  current  at  the  time  of  the 
Buddha  and  the  Mahavlra,  meagre  though  they  be 
[he  is  speaking  of  the  incidental  references  to  the 
ideas  they  did  not  accept],  are  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  historian  of  that  epoch.” 

Of  these  records  the  Pali  ones  (thanks,  in  great 
part,  to  the  continuous  efforts,  during  the  past 
twenty  years,  of  the  Pali  Text  Society),  are  very 
nearly  all  now  available.  We  can  say  not  only  what 
they  do,  but  (which  is  often  of  even  more  import- 
ance) what  they  do  not,  contain.  The  Jain  records 
are  unfortunately  as  yet  known  only  in  fragments. 
It  is  the  greatest  desideratum  for  the  history  of  this 
period  that  they  should  be  made  accessible  in  full. 
The  philosophical  and  religious  speculations  con- 
tained in  them  may  not  have  the  originality,  or 
intrinsic  value,  either  of  the  Vedanta  or  of  Bud- 
dhism. But  they  are  none  the  less  historically  im- 
portant because  they  give  evidence  of  a stage  less 

1 Jaina  Sutras.  2.  xxvii. 


164 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


cultured,  more  animistic,  that  is  to  say,  earlier.  And 
incidentally  they  will  undoubtedly  be  found,  as  the 
portions  accessible  already  show,  to  contain  a large 
number  of  important  references  to  the  ancient  geo- 
graphy, the  political  divisions,  the  social  and  eco- 
nomic conditions  of  India  at  a period  hitherto  very 
imperfectly  understood. 

It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the  objections  made  to 
the  authenticity  and  authority  of  these  documents. 
The  arguments  advanced  in  1884  by  Professor  Ja- 
cobi 1 seem  quite  incontrovertible,  and  indeed  they 
have  not  been  seriously  disputed.  The  books  pur- 
port to  be  substantially  the  ones  put  together  in  the 
fourth  century  B.c.  when  Bhadrabahu  was  head  of 
the  community.  The  Jains  themselves,  of  all  divis- 
ions or  schools,  acknowledge  that  there  had  been 
older  books  (the  Purvas,  the  Former  Ones),  now  lost. 
Had  they  been  inventing  the  story  this  is  not  the 
way  in  which  they  would  have  put  it.  They  would 
have  claimed  that  the  existing  books  were  the  origi- 
nal literature  of  their  Order.  The  linguistic  and 
epigraphic  evidence  so  far  available  confirms  in  many 
respects  both  the  general  reliability  of  the  traditions 
current  among  the  Jains,  and  the  accuracy  of  this 
particular  detail.  Of  course  the  name  given  in  this 
tradition  to  the  older  books  cannot  have  been  the 
original  name.  They  were  only  “ former  ” as  com- 
pared with  the  eleven  Angas  that  are  still  preserved. 
And  the  existing  books,  if  of  the  fourth  century,  can 
only  be  used  with  critical  care  as  evidence  of  insti- 
tutions, or  events,  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.  Still, 

1 Jaina  Sutras , I.  xxxvii.-xlv. 


LI  TER  A TURE 


165 

even  so,  we  have  here  important  materials  for 
Indian  history,  at  present  only  very  imperfectly 
utilised. 

It  is  really  much  the  same  with  the  existing  records 
of  the  other  school,  of  the  men  we  now  call  Bud- 
dhists. They  have  as  yet  been  only  very  imperfectly 
utilised,  though  they  are  better  and  more  completely 
known  than  the  last.  This  is  partly,  no  doubt,  be- 
cause we  call  them  Buddhists,  and  imagine  them, 
therefore,  to  belong  to  a separate  class,  quite  distinct 
from  other  Indians  of  that  epoch.  The  Buddhists 
were,  as  a matter  of  fact,  characteristically  and  dis- 
tinctively Indian.  They  probably,  at  least  during 
the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.,  formed  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people.  And  the  movement  of  thought 
out  of  which  all  these  schools  arose,  so  far  from 
being  a negligible  quantity,  as  the  priestly  books 
suggest,  was  one  of  the  most  dominant  factors  the 
historian  of  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  centuries  B.C. 
has  to  consider. 

As  to  the  age  of  the  Buddhist  canonical  books,  the 
best  evidence  is  the  contents  of  the  books  them- 
selves— the  sort  of  words  they  use,  the  style  in  which 
they  are  composed,  the  ideas  they  express.  Objec- 
tion, it  is  true,  has  recently  been  raised  against  the 
use  of  such  internal  evidence.  And  the  objection  is 
valid  if  it  be  urged,  not  against  the  general  principle 
of  the  use  of  such  evidence,  but  against  the  wrong 
use  of  it.  We  find,  for  instance,  that  Phallus-worship 
is  often  mentioned,  quite  as  a matter  of  course,  in 
the  Mahabharata,  as  if  it  had  always  been  common 
everywhere  throughout  Northern  India.  In  the 


1 66 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Nikayas,  though  they  mention  all  sorts  of  what  the 
Buddhists  regarded  as  foolish  or  superstitious  forms 
of  worship,  this  particular  kind,  Siva-worship  under 
the  form  of  the  Linga,  is  not  even  once  referred  to. 
The  Mahabharata  mentions  the  Atharva  Veda,  and 
takes  it  as  a matter  of  course,  as  if  it  were  an  idea 
generally  current,  that  it  was  a Veda,  the  fourth 
Veda.  The  Nikayas  constantly  mention  the  three 
others,  but  never  the  Atharva.  Both  cases  are  in- 
teresting. But  before  drawing  the  conclusion  that, 
therefore,  the  Nikayas,  as  we  have  them,  are  older 
than  the  existing  text  of  the  Mahabharata,  we  should 
want  a very  much  larger  number  of  such  cases,  all 
tending  the  same  way,  and  also  the  certainty  that 
there  were  no  cases  of  an  opposite  tendency  that 
could  not  otherwise  be  explained. 

On  the  other  hand,  suppose  a MS.  were  discovered 
containing,  in  the  same  handwriting,  copies  of  Bacon’s 
Essays  and  of  Hume’s  Essay,  with  nothing  to  show 
when,  or  by  whom,  they  were  written;  and  that  we 
knew  nothing  at  all  otherwise  about  the  matter. 
Still  we  should  know,  with  absolute  certainty,  which 
was  relatively  the  older  of  the  two  ; and  should  be  able 
to  determine,  within  a quite  short  period,  the  actual 
date  of  each  of  the  two  works.  The  evidence  would 
be  irresistible  because  it  would  consist  of  a very  large 
number  of  minute  points  of  language,  of  style,  and, 
above  all,  of  ideas  expressed,  all  tending  in  the  same 
direction. 

This  is  the  sort  of  internal  evidence  that  we  have 
before  us  in  the  Pali  books.  Any  one  who  habitually 
reads  Pali  would  know  at  once  that  the  Nikayas  are 


LI  TER  A TURE 


167 


older  than  the  Dhamma  Sangani ; that  both  are  older 
than  the  Katha  Vatthu  ; that  all  three  are  older  than 
the  Milinda.  And  the  Pali  scholars  most  compet- 
ent to  judge  are  quite  unanimous  on  the  point,  and 
on  the  general  position  of  the  Pali  literature  in  the 
history  of  literature  in  India. 

But  this  sort  of  evidence  can  appeal,  of  course, 
only  to  those  familiar  with  the  language  and  with 
the  ideas.  To  those  who  are  not,  the  following  points 
may  be  suggestive  : 

On  the  monuments  of  the  third  century  B.C.  we 
find  the  names  of  donors — donors  of  different  parts 
of  the  building  — inscribed  on  those  parts  (pillars, 
rails,  and  bas-reliefs).  When  the  names  are  common 
ones,  certain  epithets  are  added,  to  distinguish  the 
donors  from  other  persons  bearing  the  same  name. 
Such  epithets  are  either  local  (as  we  might  say,  John 
of  Winchester)  or  they  specify  an  occupation  (as  we 
might  say,  John  the  carpenter,  or  John  the  clerk)  or 
are  otherwise  distinctive.  Among  these  epithets 
have  been  found  the  following : 

1.  Dhainma-katJiika. — “Preacher  of  the  System  ” 
(the  Dhamma) — the  “System”  being  a technical 
term  in  the  Buddhist  schools  to  signify  the  philo- 
sophical and  ethical  doctrine  as  distinguished  from 
the  Vinaya,  the  Rules  of  the  Order. 

2.  Pctakin.  — “One  who  had  (that  is,  knew  by 
heart)  the  Pitaka.”  The  Pitaka  is  the  traditional 
statements  of  Buddhist  doctrine  as  contained  in  the 
Sutta  Pitaka.  The  word  means  basket,  and  as  a 
technical  term  applied  to  a part  of  their  literature: 
it  is  used  exclusively  by  the  Buddhists. 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


1 68 

3.  Suttantika. — “ A man  who  knows  a Suttanta 
by  heart.” 

4.  Suttantakini. — “A  woman  who  knows  a Sut- 
tanta by  heart.”  Suttanta  is,  again,  a technical  term 
used  exclusively  of  certain  portions  of  the  Buddhist 
canonical  books,  more  especially  of  the  Dialogues. 
It  means  literally  the  “end  of  the  Suttas.”  In  its 
technical  sense  it  is  the  aim,  object,  outcome  of 
them  ; and  is  applied  to  the  Dialogues  as  giving,  in  a 
more  complete  and  elaborate  form,  the  general  result 
of  those  shorter  Suttas  on  which  they  are  based. 

The  brahmins  have  an  analogous  term,  Vedanta, 
applied,  in  post-Buddhistic  writings,  at  first  in  the 
Svetasvatara  and  Mundaka  Upanishads  and  often 
afterwards,  to  the  Upanishads,  as  being  the  highest 
outcome  of  the  Vedas.  Previously  to  this  the  word 
is  only  found  in  its  literal  sense,  “ the  end  of  the 
Veda,”  and  the  secondary  sense  is,  therefore,  prob- 
ably adapted  from  the  corresponding  (and  earlier) 
Buddhist  term. 

5.  Panca-nekayika.  — “One  who  knows  the  Five 
Nikayas  by  heart.”  The  five  Nikayas,  or  “Collec- 
tions,” as  a technical  term  used  of  literary  works,  is 
applied  to  the  canonical  Buddhist  texts,  and  to  them 
only.  Of  the  five,  the  first  two  contain  the  Suttan- 
tas,  the  next  two  are  made  up  of  Suttas  arranged  in 
two  different  ways,  and  the  fifth  is  a supplementary 
collection,  mostly  of  later  works.1  As  the  word 
Nikaya  also  means  a school,  or  sect,  it  is  somewhat 
ambiguous,  and  was  gradually  replaced  by  the  word 
Agama,  continually  used  in  the  later  Sanskrit  litera- 

1 See  American  Lectures,  pp.  60-62. 


LI  TER  A TURE 


169 


ture.  The  same  remark  holds  good  of  the  technical 
term  Suttanta.  That  also  was  gradually  replaced  by 
the  shorter  and  easier  phrase  Sutta. 

The  expressions  here  explained  are  used  on  Bud- 
dhist monuments  and  refer  to  Buddhist  books.  They 
are  conclusive  proof  that  some  time  before  the  date 
of  the  inscriptions  (that  is,  roughly  speaking,  before 
the  time  of  Asoka),  there  was  a Buddhist  literature 
in  North  India,  where  the  inscriptions  are  found. 
And  further,  that  that  literature  then  had  divisions 
known  by  the  technical  names  of  Pitaka,  Nikaya, 
and  Suttanta,  and  that  the  number  of  Nikayas  then 
in  existence  was  five. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Asoka,  in  his  Bhabra  Edict, 
addressed  to  the  Buddhist  Order  (the  Sangha),  re- 
commends to  the  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  Order, 
and  to  the  lay  disciples  of  either  sex,  frequently  to 
hear  (that  is  to  learn  by  heart),  and  to  meditate 
upon,  certain  selected  passages.  And  of  these  he, 
most  fortunately,  gives  the  names.  They  are  as 
follows : 

Ariya-vasdni  (now  found  in  the  Dlgha  Nikaya,  in 
the  portion  called  the  SangTti  Suttanta). 

Anagata-bhayani  (now  found  in  the  Anguttara  Ni- 
kaya, vol.  iii.  pp.  105-108). 

Muni  Gathd  (now  found  in  the  Sutta  Nipata, 
verses  206-220). 

Moneyya  Sutta  (now  found  in  the  Iti-vuttaka,  p. 
67,  and  also  in  the  Anguttara  Nikaya,  vol.  i.  p. 
272). 

Upatissa  Pasina. — “The  question  put  by  Upa- 
tissa  ” (more  commonly  known  as  Sariputta).  There 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


170 

are  so  many  such  questions  in  the  books  that  opinions 
differ  as  to  which  of  them  is  the  one  most  probably 
referred  to. 

There  is  a word  at  the  commencement  of  this  list 
which  may  either  be  an  adjective  applied  to  the 
whole  list,  or  the  name  of  another  passage.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  this  Edict  of  Asoka’s  gives  the 
actual  titles  of  some  of  the  shorter  passages  included, 
in  his  time,  in  those  books,  the  larger  divisions  of 
which  are  mentioned  in  the  inscriptions  just  referred 
to. 

Now  the  existing  literature,  divided  into  the  same 
larger  divisions,  contains  also  the  shorter  passages. 
To  suppose  that  it  was  composed  in  Ceylon  is  to 
suppose  that,  by  an  extraordinary  series  of  chances, 
the  Ceylon  writers  happened  to  hit  upon  just  the 
identical  technical  terms,  two  of  them  then  almost 
fallen  out  of  use,  that  had  been  used  in  these  old 
inscriptions  (of  which  they  knew  nothing)  for  the 
names  they  gave  to  the  larger  divisions  of  the  litera- 
ture they  made.  And  we  must  further  suppose  that, 
by  another  extraordinary  series  of  chances,  they 
happened  to  include  in  those  divisions  a number  of 
shorter  passages,  each  of  them  corresponding  exactly 
to  those  mentioned  by  name,  long  before  their  time, 
in  Asoka’s  Edict,  of  which  also  they  knew  nothing. 
To  adopt  such  a theory  as  the  most  probable  ex- 
planation of  the  facts  would  be  nothing  less  than 
absurd. 

How  is  it,  then,  will  be  the  immediate  question, 
that  this  theory  in  almost,  if  not  in  all,  the  current 
books  on  Buddhism  or  on  Indian  history  is  taken 


LITER  A TURE 


171 

for  granted;  that  the  Pali  canonical  literature  is 
always  called  “ the  Southern  Recension  ” or  “ the 
Singhalese  Canon  ” ? 

The  expression  is  ambiguous,  and  apt  to  be  mis- 
leading. But  though  it  is  doubtless  sometimes  used 
in  such  a way  as  to  suggest  that  these  books  were 
composed  in  Ceylon,  this  is  not  its  real  meaning, 
and  it  is  never  so  used  by  careful  writers.  It  simply 
means  that  of  the  few  works  known  to  the  European 
scholars  who  first  studied  Buddhism,  the  MSS.  of 
some  came  from  Ceylon  ; and  that  such  works  were 
therefore  called  southern,  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  others,  known  from  MSS.  which  had  come 
from  Nepal,  and  therefore  called  northern. 

It  is  very  possible  that  Burnouf,  to  whom  the 
popularity  of  this  mode  of  speech  is  mainly  due, 
leaned  at  first  to  the  opinion  that  the  canonical 
works  had  been  actually  written  in  Ceylon.  He 
always  spoke  of  them  in  his  first  work  as  “the  Pali 
books  of  Ceylon,”  not  as  “ the  Pali  books  of  India.” 
But  that  phrase  is  also  ambiguous.  Very  conscious 
how  meagre,  and  for  the  most  part  how  late,  were 
the  works  he  used,  he  was  much  too  careful  a scholar 
to  express,  at  first,  any  clear  opinion  at  all.  At  the 
end  of  his  long  labours,  however,  he  certainly  was 
quite  clearly  of  the  contrary  opinion.  For  at  the 
very  close  of  his  magnificent  work,  at  p.  862  of  the 
“ Lotus,”  he  suggests  that  the  Pali  works  “ may  have 
been  popular  among  inferior  castes,  and  the  great 
mass  of  the  people,  in  Magadha  and  Audh,  while  the 
Buddhist  Sanskrit  works  were  in  use  among  the 
brahmins.”  He  at  that  time  regarded  them  all, 


172 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


herefore,  as  North  Indian  works.  And  considering 
that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  inscriptions,  and  had 
only  the  internal  evidence  to  guide  him,  this  sugges- 
tion, though  not  exactly  right,  reflects  the  greatest 
credit  on  his  literary  judgment.  Had  he  started 
with  this  view,  we  should  probably  have  been  saved 
the  use  of  the  ambiguous  phrases,  so  suggestive  of 
these  works  being  written  in  Ceylon,  which  have  had 
so  great  an  influence  in  retarding  the  acceptance  of 
the  view  that  that  great  pioneer  in  Buddhist  studies 
came  at  last,  himself,  to  hold. 

Not  only  ought  such  phrases  to  be  dropt  out  of 
any  works,  on  these  subjects,  claiming  to  be  schol- 
arly ; but  even  the  phrases  “ northern  ” and  “ south- 
ern ” should  be  avoided.  This  seems  a pity,  for 
they  look  so  convenient.  But  the  convenience  is 
delusive  if  they  convey  a wrong  impression.  And 
I venture  to  assert  that  most  people  draw  the  con- 
clusion that  we  have  two  distinct  Buddhisms  to 
deal  with,  one  made  in  Nepal,  the  other  made  in 
Ceylon.  Every  one  now  agrees  that  this  is  all 
wrong.  What  we  have  is  not  two,  but  very  many 
different  sorts  of  Buddhism  ; for  almost  every  book 
gives  us  a different  doctrine. 

The  more  authoritative  and  ancient  books,  whether 
written  in  Pali  or  in  Buddhist  Sanskrit,  are  none  of 
them  either  northern  or  southern.  They  all,  with- 
out any  exception, — if  we  disregard  the  absurdly 
unimportant  detail  of  the  place  from  which  our 
modern  copies  of  them  are  derived, — claim  to  belong, 
and  do  actually  belong,  to  the  Middle  Country,  as 
the  Indians  call  it,  that  is,  to  the  Ganges  Valley. 


LITERA  TURK 


173 


Each  differs  from  the  next  (in  point  of  date)  by 
small  gradations  in  doctrine.  There  are  such  differ- 
ences even  within  the  Nikayas  themselves.  Many 
Sanskrit  books,  though  they  differ,  by  containing 
certain  details  of  later  opinion,  from  the  oldest  Pali 
ones,  still,  on  the  whole,  have  to  be  classed  with  the 
Pali  rather  than  with  the  other  Sanskrit  works.  The 
Sanskrit  Maha  Vastu,  for  instance  (“  The  Sublime 
Story”)  is  much  nearer  to  the  Pali  Cariya  Pitaka(“The 
Tradition  as  to  Conduct  ”)  than  it  is  to  such  Sanskrit 
books  as  the  “ Lotus  of  the  Good  Law.”  All  three 
alike  had  their  origin  in  the  Middle  Country — where 
exactly,  in  that  country,  we  cannot,  with  respect  to 
any  one  of  the  three,  determine.  The  only  two 
ancient  works  we  can  specify  as  distinctly  northern 
in  origin,  the  Milinda  and  the  Gosinga  Anthology, 
are  neither  of  them  written  in  Sanskrit,  and  are 
identical  in  doctrine  with  what  is  called  southern 
Buddhism.  Is  it  not  rather  absurd  to  have  to  ticket 
as  southern  just  the  very  two  books  we  know  to  be 
the  most  northern  in  origin  ? 

There  is  not  now,  and  never  has  been,  any  unity 
either  of  opinion  or  of  language  in  what  is  called 
northern,  or  in  what  is  called  southern  Buddhism. 
There  is  a distinct  disadvantage  in  continually  sug- 
gesting a unity  which  has  no  existence  in  fact.  In 
a word,  the  current  division  of  Buddhist  literature 
into  northern  and  southern  is  entirely  unscientific, 
and  misleading.  It  contains  a snggcstio  falsi  in  at 
least  two  important  respects.  It  cuts  across  the 
only  division  that  has  a scientific  basis,  the  division, 
not  according  to  the  locality  whence  we  get  our 


174 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


modern  copies,  but  according  to  time,  according  to 
date  of  origin.  Why  then  continue  the  use  of  an 
ambiguous  phraseology  which  may  be  (and  which 
we  know,  from  experience,  will  be)  misunderstood  ? 
The  only  way  to  avoid  endless  confusion  is  to  drop 
the  use  of  it  altogether.  And  I take  this  opportu- 
nity of  acknowledging  my  error  in  having  used  it  so 
long  myself.  In  my  Buddhism,  from  the  fifteenth 
edition  onwards  the  mistake  has  been  corrected.  So 
slight  is  the  change  that  no  one  is  likely  to  have 
noticed  it.  The  word  “ northern  ” has  been  re- 
placed by  “Tibetan,”  “Japanese,”  “ Mahayanist,” 
etc.,  according  to  the  context.  There  has  been  no 
loss  in  clearness,  or  in  conciseness,  and  much  gain  in 
precision. 

We  must  take  our  Pali  canonical  books  then  to 
be  North  Indian,  not  Singhalese  in  origin  ; and  the 
question  as  to  whether  they  have  suffered  from  their 
sometime  sojourn  under  the  palm  groves  of  the 
mountain  vihdras  in  the  south  must  be  decided  by 
a critical  study  of  them  in  their  present  condition. 
Toward  such  a study  there  are  some  points  that 
can  already  be  made. 

The  books  make  no  mention  of  Asoka.  Had 
they  undergone  any  serious  re-editing  after  the 
reign  of  the  great  Buddhist  Emperor  (of  whom  the 
Buddhist  writers,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  were 
so  proud),  is  it  probable  that  he  would  have  been  so 
completely  ignored  ? 

The  books  never  mention  any  person,  or  any 
place,  in  Ceylon  ; or  even  in  South  India.  They  tell 
us  a goodly  number  of  anecdotes,  usually  as  intro- 


LI  TER  A TURE 


175 


ductions  to,  or  in  illustration  of,  some  ethical  point. 
It  would  have  been  so  easy  to  bring  in  a passing 
reference  to  some  Ceylon  worthy — in  the  same  way 
as  the  brahmin  Buddhaghosa  does  so  often,  in  his 
Attha  SalinI,  which  was  revised  in  Ceylon.1  If  the 
Pitaka  books  had  been  tampered  with,  would  not 
opportunity  have  been  taken  to  yield  to  this  very 
natural  impulse  ? 

We  know  a great  deal  now  of  developed  or  cor- 
rupted doctrine  current  in  Ceylon,  of  new  technical 
terms  invented,  of  new  meanings  put  into  the  older 
phrases.  Not  one  single  instance  has  yet  been  found 
of  any  such  later  idea,  any  such  later  form  of  lan- 
guage, any  such  later  technical  term,  in  any  one  of 
the  canonical  books. 

The  philosophic  ideas  of  the  ancient  Buddhism, 
and  the  psychological  ideas  on  which  they  were 
based,  were  often  curtly,  naively,  confusedly  ex- 
pressed. In  Ceylon  they  had  been  much  worked  up, 
polished,  elucidated,  systematised.  From  several 
works  now  accessible  we  know  fairly  well  the  tone 
and  manner  of  these  later — and,  as  they  must  have 
seemed  to  Ceylon  scholars,  clearer,  fuller  — state- 
ments of  the  old  ideas.  In  no  single  instance  yet 
discovered  has  this  later  tone  and  manner  found  its 
way  into  the  canonical  books. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  any  change  that  may 
have  been  made  in  these  North  Indian  books  after 
they  had  been  brought  into  Ceylon  must  have  been 
insignificant.  It  would  be  a great  advantage  if  we 
should  be  able  to  find  even  one  or  two  instances  of 

1 See  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids’s  Buddhist  Psychology,  p.  xxi. 


iy6 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


such  changes.  We  should  then  be  able  to  say  what 
sort  and  degree  of  alteration  the  Ceylon  scholars 
felt  justified  in  making.  But  it  is  clear  that  they 
regarded  the  canon  as  closed. 

While  the  books  were  in  North  India,  on  the  other 
hand,  and  the  canon  was  not  considered  closed,  there 
is  evidence  of  a very  different  tone.  One  whole 
book,  the  Katha  Vatthu,  was  added  as  late  as  the  time 
of  Asoka  ; and  perhaps  the  Parivara,  a mere  string  of 
examination  questions,  is  not  much  older.  One 
story  in  the  Peta  Vatthu  1 is  about  a king  Pingalaka, 
said  in  the  commentary  to  have  reigned  over  Surat 
two  hundred  years  after  the  Buddha’s  time ; and 
another2  refers  to  an  event  fifty-six  years  after  the 
Buddha’s  death.  The  latter  is  certainly  in  its  right 
place  in  this  odd  collection  of  legends.  The  former 
may  (as  the  commentator  thinks)  have  been  added 
at  Asoka’s  Council.  Even  if  it  were,  that  would  be 
proof  that  they  then  thought  no  harm  of  adding  to 
the  legendary  matter  in  their  texts.  And  the  whole 
of  this  little  book  of  verses,  together  with  the  Vimana 
Vatthu  (really  only  the  other  half  of  one  and  the 
same  work),  is  certainly  very  late  in  tone  as  compared 
with  the  Nikayas. 

The  same  must  be  said  of  two  other  short  collec- 
tions of  ballads.  One  is  the  Buddha  Vamsa,  con- 
taining a separate  poem  on  each  of  twenty-five 
Buddhas,  supposed  to  have  followed  one  another  in 
succession.  The  other  is  the  Cariya  Pitaka,  contain- 
ing thirty-four  short  Jataka  stories  turned  into  verse. 
Both  of  these  must  also  be  late.  For  in  the  Nikayas 
1 IV.  3.  5 V.  2. 


LI  TER  A TURE 


1 77 


only  seven  Buddhas  are  known  ; and  Jatakas,  in  the 
technical  sense,  are  not  yet  thought  of.  This  par- 
ticular set  of  Jatakas  is  also  arranged  on  the  basis  of 
the  Pdrdmitas,  a doctrine  that  plays  no  part  in  the 
older  books.  The  Ten  Perfections  (Pdrdmitd)  are 
qualities  a Buddha  is  supposed  to  be  obliged  to  have 
acquired  in  the  countless  series  of  his  previous  rebirths 
as  a Bodhisatva.  But  this  is  a later  notion,  not 
found  in  the  Nikayas.  It  gradually  grew  up  as  the 
Bodhisatva  idea  began  to  appeal  more  to  the  Indian 
mind.  And  it  is  interesting  to  find  already,  in  these 
latest  of  the  canonical  books,  the  germs  of  what  after- 
wards developed  into  the  later  Mahayana  doctrine, 
to  which  the  decline  of  Buddhism,  in  the  opinion  of 
Professor  Bhandarkar,  was  eventually  so  greatly 
due.1 

This  question  of  the  history  of  the  Jataka  stories 
will  be  considered  in  greater  detail  in  our  next  chap- 
ter. What  has  been  here  said  (and  other  similar 
evidence  will,  no  doubt,  be  hereafter  discovered)  is 
amply  sufficient  to  show  that  some  parts  of  the  Canon 
are  later  than  others;  and  that  the  books  as  we  have 
them  contain  internal  evidence  from  which  conclu- 
sions may  fairly  be  drawn  as  to  their  comparative 
age.  Such  conclusions,  of  course,  are  not  always  so 
plain  as  is  the  case  in  the  four  instances — the  Peta 
and  Vimana  Vatthus,  the  Buddha  Vamsa,  and  the 
Cariya  Pitaka — just  considered.  For  example,  let  us 
take  the  case  of  the  Sutta  Nipata. 

This  also  is  a short  collection  of  poems.  It  con- 
tains fifty-four  lyrics,  each  of  them  very  short,  ar- 

1 y.  R.  A.  S , Bombay  Branch,  1900,  p.  395. 


1 78 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


ranged  in  four  Cantos;  and  then  sixteen  others,  as 
a fifth  Canto,  strung  together  by  a framework  of 
story.  The  last  Canto  (called  the  Parayana)  had 
evidently  once  existed  as  a separate  poem.  It  is  so 
treated  by  the  commentator,  who  calls  it  a Suttanta; 
and  it  is  in  fact  about  as  long  as  one  of  those  Sut- 
tantas  in  the  Dlgha  Nikaya  which  consist  of  verses 
strung  together  by  a framework  of  story  in  prose. 
It  is  six  times  quoted  or  referred  to  by  name,  as  a 
separate  poem,  in  the  Nikayas.1 

The  preceding  Canto,  the  fourth,  is  called  “ The 
Eights,”  most  of  the  lyrics  in  it  containing  eight 
stanzas  apiece.  This  Canto  is  also  referred  to  by 
name  as  a separate  work,  in  other  parts  of  the  Canon.2 
And  it  must  in  very  earlier  times  have  been  already 
closely  associated  in  thought  with  the  fifth  Canto,  for 
the  two  together  are  the  subject  of  a curious  old  com- 
mentary, the  only  work  of  the  kind  included  in  the 
Nikayas.  That  this  commentary,  the  Niddesa,  takes 
no  notice  of  the  other  three  Cantos  would  seem 
to  show  that,  when  it  was  composed,  the  whole  of 
the  five  Cantos  had  not  yet  been  brought  together 
into  a single  book. 

Of  the  thirty-eight  poems  in  the  earlier  three 
Cantos  no  less  than  six  are  found  also  in  other  parts 
of  the  Canon.3  They  had  existed  as  separate  hymns, 
popular  in  the  community,  before  they  were  incor- 

1 Samyutta,  2.  49;  Anguttara,  I.  144;  2.  45  ; 3.  399;  4.  63. 

2 Samyutta,  3.  12  ; Vinaya , 1.  T96  ; Udana,  5.  6. 

3 Poem  No.  4=S.  1.  172;  No.  S = Kh.  P.  No.  g ; No.  i3=Kh. 
P.  No.  5 ; No.  I5=jat.  3.  196 : No.  i6=Kh.  P.  No.  6 ; No.  33  = 
M.  No.  92. 


LIT  ERA  7 LIRE 


I7Q 

porated  into  the  several  collections  in  which  they  are 
now  found.  When  we  find  also  that  numerous  iso- 
lated verses  in  these  thirty-eight  poems  occur  else- 
where in  very  ancient  documents,  the  most  probable 
explanation  is  that  these  were  current  as  proverbs  or 
as  favourite  sayings  (either  in  the  community,  or 
perhaps  among  the  people  at  large)  before  they 
were  independently  incorporated  in  the  different 
poems  in  which  they  are  now  found. 

We  find,  then,  that  single  verses,  single  poems,  and 
single  Cantos,  had  all  been  in  existence  before  the 
work  assumed  its  present  shape.  This  is  very  sug- 
gestive as  to  the  manner  of  growth  not  only  of  this 
book,  but  of  all  the  Indian  literature  of  this  period. 
It  grew  up  in  the  schools;  and  was  the  result  rather 
of  communistic  than  of  individual  effort.  No  one 
dreamed  of  claiming  the  authorship  of  a volume.  In 
the  whole  of  the  Buddhist  canonical  works  one  only, 
and  that  the  very  latest,  has  a personal  name  attached 
to  it,  the  name  of  a leading  member  of  the  Order 
said  to  have  lived  in  the  time  of  Asoka.  During  the 
previous  three  centuries  authorship  is  attributed  not 
to  treatises,  or  even  poems,  but  only  to  verses;  and 
to  verses  in  two  only  out  of  the  many  collections  of 
verses  that  have  been  preserved.  Out  of  twenty- 
nine  books  in  the  Canon  no  less  than  twenty-six 
have  no  author  at  all,  apart  from  the  community. 

This  is  decisive  as  to  popular  feeling  on  the  point. 
And  even  in  the  priestly  schools  the  then  prevalent 
custom  was  not  greatly  different.  Their  works  also 
were  not  produced  by  individuals,  but  grew  up  in 
the  various  schools  of  the  priestly  community.  And 


i8o 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


no  priestly  work  ascribed  to  an  individual  author 
can  be  dated  much  before  the  time  of  Asoka. 

And  yet  another  point,  which  will  turn  out,  unless 
I am  much  mistaken,  to  be  of  striking  importance 
for  the  history  of  Indian  literature,  arises  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Sutta  Nipata.  The  fifth  Canto  re- 
garded as  a single  poem,  and  about  one-third  of  all 
the  other  poems  in  the  collection,  are  of  the  nature 
of  ballads.  They  describe  some  short  incident,  the 
speeches  being  always  in  verse,  but  the  story  itself 
usually  in  prose  (though  in  a few  instances  this  also 
is  in  verse).  They  resemble  in  this  respect  a very 
large  number  of  Suttas  found  in  other  portions  of 
the  Canon.  And  even  a few  of  the  Suttantas  — 
such  as  the  “ Riddles  of  Sakka,”  for  instance  (cer- 
tainly one  of  our  oldest  documents,  for  it  is  quoted 
by  name  in  the  Samyutta') — are  characteristic 
specimens  of  this  kind  of  composition.  It  is,  in 
fact,  next  to  the  prose  Sutta,  the  most  popular  style 
for  literary  effort  during  this  period. 

This  manner  of  expressing  one’s  ideas  is  now 
quite  unknown.  But  it  has  been  known  throughout 
the  world  as  the  forerunner  of  the  epic.  Professor 
Windisch  has  subjected  those  of  these  ballads  that 
are  based  on  the  temptation  legends  to  an  exhaust- 
ive study  in  his  masterly  monograph,  Mara  und 
Buddha.  He  says,  apropos  of  the  two  ballads  on 
this  subject  in  the  Sutta  Nipata  : 

“ These  two  Suttas  might  have  been  regarded  as  a frag- 
ment of  an  epic  had  we  otherwise  found  any  traces  of 
an  ancient  Buddha  Epic.  But  that  is  not  to  be  thought 
1 Samyutta,  iii.  13. 


LITERA  TURE 


1 8 1 


of.  Far  rather  are  these  Suttas  to  be  looked  upon  as  the 
early  beginnings  out  of  which,  in  certain  circumstances, 
a Buddha  Epic  could  eventually  arise. 

“We  can  mark  with  special  ease  how  an  Epic  arises, 
and  of  what  process  an  Epic,  as  a particular  form  of 
literature,  is  the  consummation.  Some  years  ago  I drew 
attention  to  the  historical  points  we  have  here  to  take 
into  consideration  in  a lecture  to  the  Congress  of  philo- 
logians  at  Gera  on  the  Irish  legends  and  the  question  of 
Ossian  1 There  I laid  the  chief  stress  on  the  old-Irish 
legends,  but  compared  also  the  legends  in  ancient  India. 
The  latter  subject  was  independently  dealt  with  by 
Oldenberg  in  his  well-known  articles  on  the  Akhyana 
hymns  where  the  subject  referred  to  (the  relations  of  the 
Epic  to  previous  literary  forms)  is  dealt  with  in  detail 
and  thoroughly  explained.''  Professor  Geldner  then  con- 
sidered the  same  subject,  partly  from  new  points  of 
view,  inasmuch  as  he  followed  them  out  also  in  the 
case  of  the  Avesta,  in  his  article  in  the  ‘Vedische 
Studien.’ 3 Now  we  find  also  in  the  Buddhist  litera- 
ture, as  Oldenberg  was  the  first  to  point  out,  this 
epic  narrative  in  mixed  prose  and  verse.  . . . The 

persons  who  act,  the  place  where  they  act,  and  the 
action  itself  form  the  constituent  elements  of  the  nar- 
rative. But  the  latter  only  springs  into  life  when  the 
persons  acting  are  also  represented  as  speaking.  Now 
the  speeches  are  frequently  what  it  is  least  possible 
to  keep  historically  accurate,  where,  therefore,  the  fancy 
of  the  narrator  and  the  art  of  the  poet  come  most  into 
play.  Conversation  ( speech  and  rejoinder ) is  the  jirst  part 
of  the  narrative  to  be  put  into  verse , and  that  especially  at 
the  crucial  points  of  the  story.  Here  the  beginnings  of 

1 Revile  Celtique , 5.  70. 

2 Z.  D.  M.  G.,  vols.  37  and  39. 


3 1.  2S4,  foil. 


182 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


epic  and  drama  lie  close  together.  That  the  more  an- 
cient epics  in  all  countries  contain  many  speeches 
and  counter  speeches  can  be  seen  too  from  the  Iliad. 
It  is  only  in  the  later  epic  form  that  this  dramatic  ele- 
ment is  kept  in  the  background.  So  in  the  old-Greek 
drama  also  vve  have  an  epic  element  in  the  speeches  of 
the  messengers.  But  a poem  becomes  completely  epical  only 
when  to  the  speeches  in  verse  is  added  also  the  frame- 
work of  the  story  in  metrical  form.  And  the  last  stage 
is  that  the  speeches  grow  shorter,  or  fall  out,  and  only 
events  are  given  in  verse.”  1 

Both  the  general  accuracy  and  the  great  import- 
ance of  this  far-reaching  generalisation  will  be  ad- 
mitted by  all.  Now  we  have  in  the  Nikayas  all  sorts 
of  the  earliest  forms  of  the  evolution  referred  to. 
We  find  (in  the  Thera- and  Therl-Gatha,  for  instance) 
only  the  speeches  in  verse  in  the  canonical  books, 
and  the  framework  of  prose,  without  which  they  are 
often  unintelligible,  handed  on,  by  tradition,  in 
the  Commentary.  We  find  (as  in  the  Suttantas  in 
the  second  volume  of  the  Dlgha,  or  in  the  Udana) 
speeches  in  verse,  and  framework  in  prose,  both  pre- 
served in  the  canonical  book.  And  we  find  ballads 
(such  as  the  two  Suttas  discussed  by  Professor 
Windisch)  in  which  speeches  and  framework  are 
both  preserved  in  verse.  But  it  is  not  till  long  after- 
wards, in  the  time  of  Kanishka,  that  we  have  a fully 
developed  Buddha  Epic. 

Are  we  then  to  suppose  that  the  Indians  had  a 
mental  constitution  different  from  that  of  the  other 
Aryan  tribes  (after  all,  their  relatives  in  a certain 
1 Windisch,  Mara  unit  Buddha , pp.  222,  foil. 


LI  TER  A TURK 


•83 


degree)  throughout  the  world  ? Or  are  we  to 
suppose  that  the  Buddhist  community  formed  a sec- 
tion so  completely  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  peo- 
ple that  they  were  uninfluenced  by  the  existence,  in 
their  immediate  surroundings,  of  the  great  Indian 
Epics.  The  Ramayana,  as  Professor  Jacobi  has 
shown,  was  composed  in  Kosala,  on  the  basis  of  bal- 
lads popularly  recited  by  rhapsodists  throughout 
that  district.  But  the  very  centre  of  the  literary 
activity  of  the  Buddhists  was  precisely  Kosala. 
After  the  Ramayana  had  become  known  there  as  a 
perfect  epic,  with  the  distinctive  marks  of  the  epic 
style,  would  such  of  the  people  in  Kosala  as  had 
embraced  the  new  doctrine  have  continued  to  use 
only  the  ancient  method  of  composition  ? This  would 
be  quite  without  parallel.  But  we  have  to  choose 
between  this  supposition  (not  a probable  one)  and 
the  alternative  proposition  — that  is  to  say,  that 
whatever  the  date  to  be  assigned  to  this  ballad  liter- 
ature, in  mixed  prose  and  verse,  preserved  in  the 
Nikayas,  the  date  of  the  Maha-bharata  and  of  the 
Ramayana,  as  Epics,  must  be  later. 

We  may  be  pretty  sure  that  if  the  Epics  had 
existed  at  the  period  when  this  Buddhist  literature 
was  composed,  they  would  have  been  referred  to  in 
it.  But  they  are  not.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
ballads  in  prose  and  verse,  such  as  those  sung  by  the 
rhapsodists  (the  stage  out  of  which  the  epics  were 
evolved),  are  referred  to  under  their  technical  name 
of  akkhanas  (Sanskrit  akhydnas ) in  one  of  the  oldest 
documents.1  Mention  is  there  made  of  various 

1 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 1.  8. 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


184 

sorts  of  public  spectacles,  and  one  of  these  is  the 
reciting  of  such  Akhyanas.  And  when  the  com- 
mentator in  the  early  part  of  the  fifth  century  A.D. 
explains  this  as  the  reciting  of  the  Bharata,  the 
Ramayana,  and  so  on,  that  is,  as  exegesis,  perfectly 
right.  This  was  the  sort  of  thing  referred  to.  But 
his  remark  is  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  perfect 
Epics,  only  at  his  own  time,  not  at  the  time  of  the 
old  text  he  is  explaining. 

This  may  seem,  I am  afraid,  to  have  been  a 
digression.  But  it  is  really  very  much  to  the  pur- 
pose, when  discussing  Indian  literature  in  this  period, 
to  bring  out  the  importance  of  the  wide  prevalence 
of  the  versifying  faculty,  and  to  discuss  the  stage  to 
which  it  had  reached, the  style  of  composition  in  which 
it  was  mostly  used.  We  hear  of  four  kinds  of  poets  : — 
the  poet  of  imagination  (who  makes  original  verses): 
the  poet  of  tradition  (the  repeater  of  current 
verses) ; the  poet  of  real  life  (or  perhaps  of  worldly 
as  distinct  from  religious  topics)  ; and  the  improvis- 
ator.1 We  have  several  instances  in  the  books  of 
such  impromptu  verses.  Though  they  were  prob- 
ably not  quite  so  impromptu  as  they  are  described 
to  be,  we  need  not  doubt  the  fact  that  the  art  was 
then  a recognised  form  of  ability.  And  when  a man 
is  charged  with  being  “drunk  with  poesy”’  ( kdvey - 
yamatto)  the  rapt  and  far-away  look  of  the  poet  in 
the  moment  of  inspiration  cannot  have  been  alto- 
gether unfamiliar. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that,  just  as  we  have 
evidence  at  this  period  of  the  first  steps  having  been 
1 Anguttara,  2.  230;  compare  Sum.  95.  2 Samyutta,  1.  no. 


LI  TER  A TURE 


185 


taken  towards  a future  Epic,  so  we  have  evidence 
of  the  first  steps  towards  a future  drama  — the  pro- 
duction before  a tribal  concourse  on  fixed  feast  days 
of  shows  with  scenery,  music,  and  dancing.  There  is 
ample  evidence  in  the  Buddhist  and  Jain  records, 
and  in  Asoka  inscriptions,  of  the  existence  of  these 
samajjas,  as  they  were  called,  as  a regular  institution.1 
That  they  are  not  mentioned  in  the  priestly  books 
need  inspire  no  doubt  upon  the  point.  This  is  only 
another  instance  of  the  priestly  habit  of  persistently 
ignoring  what  they  did  not  like.  We  see  from  the 
Sigalovada  Suttanta  2 that  recitations,  or  the  telling 
of  stories,  in  mixed  prose  and  verse  ( akkhana ),  also 
took  place  at  these  meetings.  But  this  seems,  from 
the  evidence  at  present  attainable,  to  have  been 
distinct ; and  the  interpretation  of  the  word  I have 
rendered  “ scenery  ” is  open  to  doubt.  We  cannot 
talk,  therefore,  as  yet,  of  drama.  When  we  see, 
however,  that  these  meetings  took  place  at  sacred 
places,  on  the  hilltops,  and  that  high  officials  were  in- 
vited and  had  special  seats  provided  for  them,  we  find 
ourselves  in  presence,  not  of  private  undertakings, 
but  of  such  religious  and  communal  ceremonies  as 
those  to  which  the  beginnings  of  drama  have  else- 
where also  been  traced  back.  It  is  true  that  the 
kind  of  religion  which  we  have  here  to  consider  is 
not  the  religion  of  the  brahmins.  The  general  pro- 
hibition which  forbade  a brahmin  to  see  or  hear 

1 See  the  passages  quoted  in  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , i.  9.  10,  and 
Jacobi’s  Jaina  Sutras,  2.  303. 

2 In  Grimblot’s  Sept  Suttas  Palis,  p.  300,  where  the  reading  must 
be  corrected  accordingly. 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


1 86 

dancing  or  music  1 must  have  included  such  perform- 
ances. But  it  was  at  that  time  none  the  less  on 
that  account,  a very  vital  and  popular  part  of  the 
national  faith.’ 

I have  dealt  in  this  chapter,  not  with  the  contents, 
which  I have  described  elsewhere,3  but  only  with  the 
outward  form  and  style  of  the  literature.  It  shows 
a curious  contrast  between  the  value  of  the  ideas  to 
be  expressed  and  the  childlike  incapacity  to  express 
them  well.  We  have  here,  as  to  style,  only  the 
untrained  adolescence  of  the  Indian  mind.  But 
what  vigour  it  has  ! The  absence  of  writing  materials 
seems  naturally  to  have  affected  less  the  short  poems 
than  the  style  of  the  prose,  and  there  is  much  rough 
and  rugged  beauty  both  in  the  ballads  and  in  the 
lyrics.  Now  the  style,  and  much  of  the  thought,  is 
not  Buddhist  but  Indian  ; and  is  in  some  respects  the 
only  evidence  we  possess  of  the  literary  ability,  at 
that  time,  of  the  Indian  peoples.  If  only  we  had 
still  some  of  the  ballads  out  of  which  the  Epics  were 
subsequently  formed,  they  would,  I am  convinced, 
show  equal  limitations,  but  also  equal  power.  In 
after  times  we  have  evidence  of  more  successful 
study  of  the  arts  and  methods  of  rhetoric  and  poetry. 
But  never  do  we  find  the  same  virility,  the  same 
curious  compound  of  humour  and  irony  and  love  of 

1 See,  for  instance,  the  Paraskara  Grhya  Sutra,  2.  7.  3. 

2 The  oldest  dramas  mentioned  by  name  (second  century  B.C.) 
are  mystery'  plays  based  on  episodes  in  the  life  of  Krishna.  From 
this  time  onward  there  is  more  frequent  mention  of  actors.  But  the 
earliest  dramas  are  all  lost.  The  oldest  extant  ones  are  of  the  sixth 
or  seventh  century  a.d. 

3 American  Lectures,  chapter  ii. 


LI  TER  A TURK 


187 


nature  on  the  one  hand,  with  a deadly  earnestness, 
and  really  on  the  whole  a surprisingly  able  grasp  of 
the  deepest  problems  of  life,  on  the  other.  As  we 
shall  see  presently  in  the  case  of  the  philosophy,  so 
also  is  it  true  of  the  literature  that  it  is  in  this  period 
that  India  came  nearest  to  having  a Golden  Age. 
And  the  learned,  ornate  poetry  of  later  times  is  to  the 
literature  of  this  period  what  the  systemisations  and 
learned  commentaries  of  Buddhaghosa  and  Sankara 
are  to  the  daring  speculations  and  vivid  life  of  the 
early  Upanishads  and  of  the  Four  Nikayas. 


1 88 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  X 
CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  BUDDHIST  LITERATURE  FROM 

the  buddha’s  time  to  the  time  of  asoka 

1.  The  simple  statements  of  Buddhist  doctrine  now 
found,  in  identical  words,  in  paragraphs  or  verses 
recurring  in  all  the  books. 

2.  Episodes  found,  in  identical  words,  in  two  or 
more  of  the  existing  books. 

3.  The  Silas,  the  Parayana,  the  Octades,  the  Pati- 
mokkha. 

4.  The  Dlgha,  Majjhima,  Anguttara,  and  Samyutta 
Nikayas. 

5.  The  Sutta  Nipata,  the  Thera-  and  Therl-Gathas, 
the  Udanas,  and  the  Khuddaka  Patha. 

6.  The  Sutta  Vibhanga  and  the  Khandakas. 

7.  The  Jatakas  and  the  Dhammapadas. 

8.  The  Niddesa,  the  Itivuttakas,  and  the  Patisam- 
bhida. 

9.  The  Peta-  and  Vimana-Vatthus,  the  Apadanas, 
the  Cariya  Pitaka,  and  the  Buddha  Vamsa. 

10.  The  Abhidhamma  books  ; the  last  of  which  is 
the  Katha  Vatthu,  and  the  earliest  probably  the  Puggala 
Pannatti. 

The  above  table  represents  the  probable  order  in 
which  the  extant  Buddhist  documents  of  this  period 
were  composed.  They  were  not  yet  written,  and  a 
great  deal  has  no  doubt  been  lost. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  JATA.KA  BOOK1 


HE  Jataka  book,  which  we  have  now  had  before 


us  for  some  years,  in  full,  in  the  admirable 
edition  of  the  Pali  text  by  Professor  Fausboll,  is 
now  also  approaching  its  completion  in  the  English 
translation  published  at  Cambridge  under  the  super- 
vision of  Professor  Cowell.  It  is  so  full  of  informa- 
tion on  the  daily  habits  and  customs  and  beliefs  of 
the  people  of  India,  and  on  every  variety  of  the 
numerous  questions  that  arise  as  to  their  economic 
and  social  conditions,  that  it  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  be  able  to  determine  the  period  to 
which  the  evidence  found  in  this  book  is  applicable. 
The  problem  is  somewhat  complicated.  But  if  only 
the  right  distinctions  be  drawn,  the  solution  of  it 
seems  to  me  substantially  sure,  and  really  perfectly 
simple. 

That  we  should  have  to  draw  distinctions  between 
different  parts  of  the  same  book  is  nothing  sur- 

1 The  following  is  an  enlarged  restatement  of  views  first  put  for- 
ward in  the  introduction  (written  in  August,  1878)  to  my  Buddhist 
Birth  Stories 


189 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


I90 

prising.  As  Professor  Deussen  has  said  of  the  early 
Upanishads,  and  as  Professor  Winternitz  has  said 
of  the  Maha-Bharata,  so  also  may  be  said  of  the 
Nikayas  and  of  the  Vinaya  (and  even  of  some 
portions  of  the  Abhidhamma),  that  “ we  must  judge 
each  separate  piece  by  itself.”  And  this  is  really 
only  the  very  natural  and  necessary  result  of  what 
has  been  pointed  out  above,1  that  the  books  grew 
up  gradually,  that  they  were  not  books  in  our 
modern  sense,  and  that  they  had  no  single  authors. 

The  distinctions  we  have  to  draw  will  best  be 
shown  by  an  example.  The  following  is  an  abstract 
of  a typical  Jataka. 

THE  BANYAN-DEER  BIRTH  STORY.’ 

‘ “ Follow  rather  the  Banyan  Deer."  This  the  Mas- 
ter told  when  at  Jetavana  about  the  mother  of 
Kumara  Kassapa,’  and  so  on. 

Then  follows  the  story  of  this  lady,  how,  after 
being  wrongly  found  guilty  of  immoral  conduct,  she 
had  been  declared  innocent  through  the  intervention 
of  the  Buddha.  Then  it  is  said  that  the  brethren 
talking  this  matter  over  at  eventide,  the  Buddha 
came  there,  and  learning  the  subject  of  their  dis- 
course said : “ Not  now  only  has  the  Tathagata 
proved  a support  and  protection  to  these  two  [the 
lady  and  her  son];  formerly  also  he  was  the  same.” 
Then,  on  request,  he  revealed  that  matter,  concealed 
by  change  of  birth. 

“ Once  upon  a time,  when  Brahmadatta  was  reign- 
1 Above,  p.  179. 


5 No.  12. 


THE  J A TAKA  BOOK 


191 

ing  in  Benares,  the  Bodhisatta  was  reborn  as  a deer, 
a king  of  the  deer,  by  name  the  Banyan  Deer,”  and 
so  on. 

This  is  the  Jataka  proper.  It  tells  how  there  were 
two  herd  of  deer  shut  in  in  the  king’s  park.  The 
king  or  his  cook  went  daily  to  hunt  for  deer  for 
venison.  For  each  one  killed  many  were  wounded 
or  harassed  by  the  chase.  So  the  golden  coloured 
Banyan  Deer,  king  of  one  of  the  herds,  went  to  the 
king  of  the  other  herd,  the  Branch  Deer,  and  per- 
suaded him  to  a compact  that  lots  should  be  cast, 
and  that,  every  day,  the  one  deer  on  whom  the  lot 
fell  should  go  voluntarily  to  the  cook’s  place  of  exe- 
cution, and  lay  his  head  upon  the  block.  And  this 
was  done.  And  so  by  the  daily  death  of  one  the 
rest  were  saved  from  torture  and  distress. 

Now  one  day  the  lot  fell  upon  a pregnant  doe  in 
Branch  Deer’s  herd.  She  applied  to  the  king  of 
that  herd  to  order  that  the  lot,  “ which  was  not 
meant  to  fall  on  two  at  once,”  should  pass  her  by. 
But  he  harshly  bade  her  begone  to  the  block.  Then 
she  went  to  King  Banyan  Deer  and  told  her  piteous 
tale.  He  said  he  would  see  to  it,  and  he  went  him- 
self and  laid  his  head  on  the  block. 

Now  the  king  had  decreed  immunity  to  the  two 
kings  of  the  respective  herds.  When  the  cook  saw 
King  Banyan  Deer  lying  there  with  his  head  on  the 
block,  he  went  hastily  and  told  the  king  (the  king  of 
the  men).  The  latter  mounted  his  chariot,  and  with 
a great  retinue  went  to  the  spot,  and  said  : 

“ My  friend,  the  king  of  the  deer,  did  I not  grant 
your  life?  Why  are  you  here?”  Then  the  king  of 


192 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  deer  told  him  all.  And  the  man-king  was  greatly 
touched,  and  said:  “Rise  up!  I grant  you  your 
lives,  both  to  you  and  to  her  ! ” Then  the  rejoinder 
came  : “ But  though  two  be  thus  safe,  what  shall 
the  rest  of  the  herds  do,  O king  of  men?”  So  they 
also  obtained  security.  And  when  the  Banyan  Deer 
had  similarly  procured  protection  for  all  the  various 
sorts  of  living  things,  the  king  of  the  deer  exhorted 
the  king  of  men  to  justice  and  mercy,  preaching  the 
truth  to  him  “ with  the  grace  of  a Buddha.” 

And  the  doe  gave  birth  to  a son,  beautiful  as  buds 
of  flowers,  and  he  went  playing  with  the  Branch 
Deer’s  herd.  Then  his  mother  exhorted  him  in  a 
verse : 

“ Follow  rather  the  Banyan,  dear; 

Cultivate  not  the  Branch! 

Death,  with  the  Banyan,  were  better  far, 

Than,  with  the  Branch,  long  life.”  1 

And  the  Banyan  Deer  made  a compact  with  the 
men  that  wherever  leaves  were  tied  round  a field  the 
deer  should  not  trespass,  and  he  made  all  the  deer 
keep  to  the  bargain.  From  that  time,  they  say,  the 
sign  of  the  tying  of  leaves  was  seen  in  the  fields.’ 

This  is  the  end  of  the  Jataka  proper,  the  “ Story 
of  the  Past.” 

Then  the  Teacher  identified  the  characters  in  the 
story  as  being  himself  and  his  contemporaries  in  a 

1 I have  tried  to  imitate  the  form  of  riddle  in  which  the  verse  ap- 
pears in  Pali. 

2 Very  probably  the  origin  of  the  fable  is  to  be  found  in  a popular 
explanation  of  this  curious  old  custom. 


THE  JATAKA  BOOK 


193 


former  birth.  “He  who  was  then  the  Branch  is  now 
Devadatta,  his  herd  the  members  of  the  Order  who 


Fig.  35. — THE  BANYAN  DEER  JATAKA  STORY. 
[Three  episodes  on  one  bas-relief.] 


followed  Devadatta  in  his  schism,  the  doe  is  now 
Kumara  Kassapa’s  mother,  the  deer  she  gave  birth 
to  is  now  her  son  Kumara  Kassapa,  the  king  of  the 


194 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


men  is  now  Ananda,  but  Banyan,  the  king  of  the 
deer,  was  I myself.” 


The  bas-relief  here  reproduced  from  the  Bharhut 1 
Tope  illustrates,  on  one  picture,  several  scenes  from 
this  Jataka. 

In  this  story  we  have  first  the  outer  framework, 
constituted  by  the  introductory  episode  and  the 
concluding  identification.  Encased  in  this  we  have 
the  Jataka  proper,  the  “Story  of  the  past,”  as  it  is 
called  in  Pali.  And  in  this  again  we  have  what  is,  in 
the  existing  canonical  Jataka  book,  the  kernel  of  the 
whole,  the  verse.  Each  of  these  has  a separate  history. 

The  oldest  form  in  which  we  find  any  Jataka  is, 
as  might  be  naturally  expected,  the  simple  fable  or 
parable  itself,  without  the  outer  framework  at  all, 
and  without  the  verse.  Thus  in  one  of  the  Nikayas3 
we  have  an  exhortation  to  maintain  a constant 
presence  of  mind,  for  that  is  “the  proper  sphere” 
of  a religieux.  Should  he  do  otherwise,  should  he 
allow  worldly  things  to  agitate  his  mind,  then  will 
he  fall — as  the  field  quail,  when  he  left  his  custom- 
ary and  ancestral  haunts,  fell  into  the  power  of  the 
hawk.  And  the  fable  is  told  as  an  introduction  to 
the  exhortation.  It  has,  as  yet,  no  framework.  And 
it  contains  no  verse.3  It  has  not  yet,  therefore,  be- 
come a Jataka. 

1 Cunningham,  Stupa  of  Bharhut , PI.  xxv.,  Fig.  I. 

5 Samyutta,  vol.  5,  p.  146,  of  the  M.  Feer’s  edition  for  the  Pali 
Text  Society. 

3 M.  P'eer,  indeed,  prints  two  lines  as  if  they  were  verse.  But  this 
is  a mistake.  The  lines  so  printed  are  not  verse. 


THE  JA  TAKA  BOOK 


195 


But  one  of  the  Jatakas  is  precisely  this  very  fable, 
in  identical  words  for  the  most  part.  It  is  decked 
out  with  a framework  of  introductory  story  and  con- 
cluding identification,  just  as  in  the  example  just 
given.  And  two  verses  are  added,  one  in  the  fable 
itself,  and  one  in  the  framework.  And  there  can  be 
no  question  as  to  which  is  the  older  document;  for 
the  Jataka  quotes  as  its  source,  and  by  name  and 
chapter,  the  very  passage  in  the  Samyutta  in  which 
the  fable  originally  occurs.1 

This  is  not  an  isolated  case.  Of  the  Jatakas  in  the 
present  collection  I have  discovered  also  the  follow- 
ing in  older  portions  of  the  canonical  books,  and  no 
doubt  others  can  still  be  traced. 


2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 


Jataka  No.  1.  Apannaka  is  based  on  Digha  2.  342 


“ “ g.  Makha-deva  “ 

“ “ 10.  Sukha-vihari  “ 

“ “ 37.  Tittira  “ 

“ “ 91.  Litta  “ 

“ “ 95.  Maha-sudassana  “ 

“ “ 203.  Khandha-vatta  “ 

“ “ 253.  Mani-kantha  “ 

“ “ 405.  Baka-brahma  “ 


“ “ Majjhima  2.  75 

“ “ Vinaya  2.  183 

“ “ Vinaya  2.  161 

“ “ Digha  2.  348 

“ “ Digha  2.  169 

“ “ Vinaya  3.  1095 

“ “ Vinaya  3.  145 

Majjhima  1.  328 

Samyutta  1.  142 


The  heroes  of  two  of  these  stories,  Makha  Deva  and 
Maha-sudassana,  are  already  in  these  older  docu- 
ments identified  at  the  end  of  the  stories  with  the 
Buddha  in  a previous  birth.  In  the  Maha-sudassana, 
in  the  Litta,  and  in  the  second  of  the  two  older  ver- 
sions of  the  Baka  story,  the  verses  are  given.  In  all 
the  rest  both  identification  and  verses  are  still,  as  yet, 
wanting. 

1 Jataka,  vol.  ii.  p.  58. 


196 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


The  reverse  case  is  about  as  frequent  ; that  is  to 
say,  stories  are  told  in  the  older  documents,  and  the 
hero  is  expressly  identified  with  the  Buddha  in  a pre- 
vious birth,  and  nevertheless  these  stories  are  not 
included  in  our  Jataka  collection.1  Such  stories 
even  before  the  Jataka  book  grew  up  rvere  called 
Jatakas.  There  is  a very  ancient  division  found  al- 
ready in  the  Nikayas,  of  Buddhist  literature  into 
nine  classes.3  One  of  these  is  “ Jatakam,”  that  is  to 
say,  Jatakas.  And  this  must  refer  to  such  episodes 
in  previously  existing  books.  It  cannot  refer  to  the 
Jataka  book  now  included  in  the  Canon,  for  that 
was  not  yet  in  existence.  And  it  is  important  to 
notice  that  in  no  one  of  these  instances  of  the  earliest 
compositions  that  were  called  Jatakas  is  the  Buddha 
identified  in  his  previous  birth  with  an  animal.  He 
is  identified  only  with  famous  sages  and  teachers  of 
olden  time.  This  was  the  first  idea  to  be  attached  to 
the  word  Jataka.  What  we  find  in  the  canonical 
book  is  a later  development  of  it. 

Such  are  the  oldest  forms,  in  the  Buddhist  litera- 
ture, of  the  Jatakas.  And  we  learn  from  them  two 
facts,  both  of  importance.  In  the  first  place  these 
oldest  forms  have , for  the  most  part , no  framework 
and  no  verse.  They  are  fables,  parables,  legends, 
entirely  (with  two  exceptions)  in  prose. 

Secondly,  our  existing  Jataka  book  is  only  a partial 

1 So  for  instance  Ghatikara  (M.  2.  53);  Maha-govinda  (D.  2.  220); 
Pacetana’s  wheelwright  (A.  1.  in);  and  Maha-vijaya’s  priest 
(D.  1.  143).  The  story  of  Maha  Govinda  occurs,  as  a Jataka,  in 
the  Cariya  Pitaka. 

2 Majjhima,  &.  133  ; Anguttara,  2.  7,  103,  108, — P.  P.,  43.  178  ; 
Vinaya,  3 S.  The  phrase  Navangatti  Buddha-vacanam  is  later. 


THE  JA  TAKA  BOOK 


I97 


record.  It  does  not  contain  all  the  Jatakas  that 
were  current,  in  the  earliest  period  of  their  literature, 
among  the  Buddhist  community. 

So  much  is  certain.  But  I venture  to  go  farther 
and  to  suggest  that  the  character  of  these  ten  earlier 
Jatakas,  in  their  pre-Jataka  shape,  enables  us  to 
trace  their  history  back  beyond  the  Buddhist  litera- 
ture altogether.  None  of  them  are  specially  Bud- 
dhist. They  are  modified,  perhaps,  more  or  less  to 
suit  Buddhist  ethics.  But  even  the  Maha-sudassana, 
which  is  the  most  so,  is  in  the  main  simply  an  ancient 
Indian  legend  of  sun  worship.  And  the  rest  are  pre- 
Buddhistic  Indian  folklore.  There  is  nothing  pecul- 
iarly Buddhist  about  them.  Even  the  ethics  they 
inculcate  are  Indian.  What  is  Buddhist  about  them, 
in  this  their  oldest  shape,  is  only  the  selection  made. 
There  was,  of  course,  much  other  folklore,  bound  up 
with  superstition.  This  is  left  out.  And  the  ethic 
is,  of  course,  of  a very  simple  kind.  It  is  milk  for 
babes.  This  comes  out  clearly  in  the  legend  of  the 
Great  King  of  Glory — the  Maha-sudassana.  In  its 
later  Jataka  form  1 it  lays  stress  on  the  impermanence 
of  all  earthly  things,  on  the  old  lesson  of  the  vanity 
of  the  world.  In  its  older  form,  as  a Suttanta,  it 
lays  stress  also  on  the  Ecstasies  (the  J lianas),  which 
are  perhaps  pre-Buddhistic,  and  on  the  Sublime  Con- 
ditions (the  Brahma-Viharas),  which  are  certainly 
distinctively  Buddhistic  (though  a similar  idea  occurs 
in  the  later  Yoga  Sutra,  1.  33).  These  are  much 
deeper,  and  more  difficult,  matters. 

1 It  is  translated  both  from  the  older  and  the  later  form  in  my 
Buddhist  Suttas , pp.  238,  foil. 


1 98 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


So  much  for  the  earliest  forms  in  which  we  find 
the  Jatakas.  The  next  evidence  in  point  of  date  is 
that  of  the  bas-reliefs  on  the  Bharhut  and  Sanchi 
Stupas — those  invaluable  records  of  ancient  Indian 
archaeology  of  which  so  much  use  has  been  made  in 
this  volume.  Among  the  carvings  on  the  railings 
round  these  stupas  are  a number  of  scenes,  each  bear- 
ing as  a title  in  characters  of  the  third  century 
B.C.,  the  name  of  a Jataka;  and  also  other  scenes, 
without  a title,  but  similar  in  character.  Twenty- 
seven  of  the  scenes  have  been  recognised  as  illus- 
trating passages  in  the  existing  Jataka  Book.1 
Twenty-three  are  still  unidentified,  and  some  of  these 
latter  are  meant,  no  doubt,  to  illustrate  Jataka  stories 
current  in  the  community,  but  not  included  in  the 
canonical  collection. 

Now  let  the  reader  compare  the  bas-relief  above 
(p.  193)  with  the  Jataka  story  given  above  (pp.  190, 
foil).  In  the  background  three  deer  are  being  shot  at, 
two  are  running  away,  one  is  looking  back  in  fear, 
one  has  fallen.  In  the  foreground,  to  the  left,  a deer 
lies  with  its  head  on  the  block.  In  the  centre  fore- 
ground, the  king  of  the  deer,  distinguished  by  his 
antlers,  crouches  beside  the  block,  and  close  by  him 
is  a man,  presumably  the  cook.  In  the  centre  the 
king  of  the  deer  exhorts  the  king  of  the  men. 

It  may  be  noticed  in  passing  that  this  strange  de- 
vice of  putting  several  scenes  of  the  same  story  on 
one  plate  is  not  confined  to  Indian  art.  The  Greeks 
did  the  same,  and  it  was  common  in  Europe  at  the 
time  of  the  revival  of  the  arts  after  the  dark  ages. 

1 See  the  list  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


THE  J AT  AKA  BOOK 


I99 


But  while  the  Indian  artist  has  not  hesitated  to 
suggest  in  his  plate  so  many  points  in  the  story,  he 
omits  all  reference  to  the  verse,  or  even  to  that 
episode  in  which  the  verse  occurs.  The  bas-relief, 
however,  resembles  the  verse  in  one  important  re- 
spect. It  would  be  absolutely  unintelligible  to  any- 
one not  familar  with  the  story  as  told  in  prose.  It 
is  the  same  with  all  these  bas-reliefs.  None  of 
them,  except  as  explained  below,  illustrate  the  verse, 
or  the  framework  of  the  story.  None  are  intelligible 
without  a knowledge  of  the  prose. 

The  exception  referred  to  is  the  figure  on  the 
Bharhut  Stupa  (Plate  xxvi.),  unfortunately  broken, 
but  bearing  in  clear  letters  the  inscription,  “ Yam 
bamano  avaycsi  Jdtaka."  These  are  the  opening 
words  of  the  verse  in  this  story  which,  in  the  printed 
edition,  is  called  the  Andhabhuta  Jataka.1  This  is 
exactly  as  if  the  deer  story  above  were  called  the 
“ Follow  rather  the  Banyan  ” Jataka.  The  fact  is, 
as  I pointed  out  already  in  1880,  that  very  great  un- 
certainty prevails  as  to  the  titles  of  these  stories,  the 
same  story  being  very  often  called  in  the  existing 
collection  by  different  names.  Even  one  of  these 
very  old  bas-reliefs  itself  has  actually  inscribed  over 
it  two  distinct  names  in  full.  The  carving  illustrates 
a fable  about  a cat  and  a cock  ; and  it  is  labelled,  in 
Pali,  both  “Cat  Jataka  ” and  “ Cock  Jataka.”2  As 
I then  said  : 

“ The  reason  for  this  is  very  plain.  When  a fable 
about  a lion  and  a jackal  was  told  (as  in  No.  157)  to  show 

1 Fausboll,  vol.  i.  p.  289. 

2 Cunningham,  Stupa  of  Bharhut , PI.  xlvii. 


200 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  advantage  of  a good  character,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  choose  a short  title  for  it,  it  was  called  the  ‘ Lion 
Jataka  ’ or  the  ‘Jackal  Jataka’  or  even  the  ‘Good 
Character  Jataka.’  And  when  a fable  was  told  about  a 
tortoise,  to  show  the  evil  results  which  follow  on  talka- 
tiveness (as  in  No.  215),  the  fable  might  as  well  be  called 
the  ‘Chatterbox  Jataka’  as  the  ‘Tortoise  Jataka’  ; and 
it  is  referred  to  accordingly  under  both  those  names.  It 
must  always  have  been  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  fix 
upon  a short  title  which  should  at  once  characterise  the 
lesson  to  be  taught,  and  the  personages  through  whose 
acts  it  was  taught.  And  different  names  would  thus 
arise,  and  become  interchangeable.”  1 

We  should  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  in 
this  one  instance  the  catchwords  of  the  verse  used 
also  as  a title.  And  it  is  a most  fortunate  thing 
that  in  this  solitary  instance  the  words  of  the  verse 
are  extant  in  an  inscription  of  the  third  century  B.C. 

The  next  evidence  we  have  to  consider  is  that  of 
the  Jataka  Book  itself.  The  canonical  work,  con- 
taining the  verses  only  (and  therefore  quite  unin- 
telligible without  a commentary),  is  very  rare  even  in 
MSS.,  and  has  not  yet  been  edited.  It  would  be 
very  interesting  to  see  what  it  has  to  say  about  the 
titles,  and  whether  it  gives  any  various  readings  in 
the  verses. 

What  we  have,  in  the  well-known  edition  by  Pro- 
fessor Fausboll,  is  the  commentary.  We  do  not 
know  its  date.  But  as  we  know  of  no  commentaries 
of  this  sort  written  before  the  fifth  century  A.D.  — 
they  were  all  handed  down  till  then  by  word  of 
1 Buddhist  Birth  Stories , p.  lxi. 


THE  JA  TAKA  BOOK 


201 


mouth  — it  is  probable  that  this  one  also  is  of  about 
the  same  date.  The  author  gives  a slight  account 
of  himself  in  the  opening  verses,  but  without  men- 
tioning his  name.  He  names  three  scholars  who  in- 
stigated him  to  undertake  the  work,  and  says  it  is 
based  on  the  tradition  as  then  handed  on  in  the 
Great  Monastery  at  Anuradhapura  in  Ceylon.  Twice 
in  the  seven  long  volumes  he  alludes  to  Ceylon 
scholars  of  the  second  century  A.D.1  And  though 
he  only  does  so  in  notes,  we  may  fairly  conclude 
from  all  this  that  he  probably  wrote  in  Ceylon. 
Professor  Childers  thought  he  was  identical  with  the 
Buddhaghosa  famous  as  the  author  of  other  great 
commentaries.  But  for  reasons  given  elsewhere,  this 
is,  I think,  impossible.2 

How  far,  then,  did  our  unknown  author  vary  from 
the  tradition  handed  down  to  him  ? How  far  had 
that  tradition,  with  respect  at  least  to  the  historical 
inferences  suggested  by  it,  preserved  the  tone  and 
character  of  that  much  more  ancient  date  to  which 
the  verses  themselves  can  be  assigned?  It  is  a dif- 
ficult question,  and  can  only  be  finally  solved  when, 
by  a careful  and  detailed  study  of  the  whole  of 
these  volumes,  we  shall  have  been  able  to  discover 
every  case  of  probable  age,  and  to  weigh  the  general 
result  to  be  derived  from  them  all.  Dr.  Liiders,  in 
two  admirable  articles  on  the  Isisinga  Legend,  has 
shown  how,  in  two  or  three  instances,  the  prose 

1 I have  discussed  these  two  difficult  and  interesting  notes  in  an 
article  entitled,  “ The  Last  to  go  Forth,”  J.  K.  A.  S.,  1902. 

2 Buddhist  Birth  Stories , pp.  lxiii.,  foil.  Also  the  note  in  Dia- 
logues of  the  Buddha,  i.  17. 


202 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


version  in  the  commentary  gives  us  a version  of  the 
story,  later,  in  some  respects,  than  that  implied  by 
the  verses.1 2 *  This  is  not  exactly  the  point  we  are 
considering,  but  it  is  closely  allied  to  it.  Dr.  Fick 
has  subjected  all  the  references  contained  in  the 
Jataka  Book  to  the  social  conditions  in  North-east- 
ern India  to  a detailed  and  careful  analysis.  He  has 
come  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  regards  the  verses 
and  the  prose  part  of  the  stories  themselves,  as 
distinct  from  the  framework,  they  have  been  scarcely 
altered  from  the  state  they  were  in  when  they  were 
handed  down  from  mouth  to  mouth  among  the 
early  Buddhists,  and  that  they  can  be  referred 
undoubtedly,  in  all  that  relates  to  those  social  con- 
ditions, to  the  time  of  the  Buddha  himself.5  Hof- 
rath  Buhler,  perhaps  the  very  highest  authority  we 
had  in  Indian  history,  and  a scholar  whom  no  one 
will  accuse  of  partiality  to  Buddhism,  says  : 


“The  chief  point  for  consideration  is  if,  in  effecting 
the  loan,  the  Buddhist  monks  altered  much;  and  espe- 
cially if  the  descriptions  of  life  which  the  Jatakas  contain 
have  been  made  to  agree  with  that  of  the  times  when 
Buddhism  had  become  a power  in  India.  The  answer 
can  only  be  that  there  are  remarkably  few  traces  of 
Buddhism  in  those  stories,  and  that  they  do  not  describe 
the  condition  of  India  in  the  third  or  fourth  century 
b.c.,  but  a?i  older  one.” 

1 In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Academy  at  Gottingen,  1897 
and  1901. 

2 Dr.  Richard  Fick,  Sociale  Gliederung  im  norddstlichen  Indian  zu 

Buddha's  zeit , pp.  vi.,  vii. 


THE  J A TAKA  BOOK 


203 


And  he  gives  his  reasons : 

“ The  descriptions  of  the  political,  religious,  and  social 
conditions  of  the  people  clearly  refer  to  the  ancient 
time  before  the  rise  of  the  great  Eastern  dynasties  of 
the  Nandas  and  the  Mauryas,  when  Pataliputra  had 
become  the  capital  of  India.  The  Jatakas  mention 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  and  they  know  nothing 
of  great  empires  which  comprised  the  whole  or  large 
parts  of  India.  The  number  of  the  kingdoms,  whose 
rulers  play  a part  in  the  Stories,  is  very  considerable. 
The  majority  of  the  names,  as  Madra,  the  two  Pancalas, 
Kosala,  Videha,  Kasi,  and  Vidarbha,  agree  with  those 
mentioned  in  the  Vedic  literature  ; while  a few  others, 
like  Kalinga  and  Assaka,  occur,  in  brahminical  litera- 
ture, first  in  the  Epics  and  in  Panini’s  Sutras.  The 
characteristic  names  of  the  Andhras,  the  Pandyas,  and 
the  Keralas  are  not  mentioned. 

“ Though  a political  centre  was  wanting,  frequent 
statements  regarding  the  instruction  of  the  young  brah- 
mins and  nobles  show  that  there  was  an  intellectual 
centre,  and  that  it  lay  in  Takkasila,  the  capital  of  distant 
Gandhara.  . . . And  it  is  very  credible  that  Gan- 

dhara,  the  native  country  of  Panini,  was  a stronghold 
of  brahminical  learning  certainly  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  centuries  b c.,  and  perhaps  even  earlier.  The 
statements  regarding  the  religious  condition  of  India 
point  to  an  equally  early  period.  Just  as  the  Three 
Vedas  are  the  basis  of  the  higher  instruction,  so  the 
prevalent  religion  is  that  of  the  path  of  works  with  its 
ceremonies  and  sacrifices,  among  which  several,  like 
the  Vajapeya  and  the  Rajasuya,  are  specially  and  re- 
peatedly mentioned.  Side  by  side  with  these  appear 
popular  festivals,  celebrated,  when  the  Nakshatra  had 


204 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


been  proclaimed,  with  general  merrymakings  and  copi- 
ous libations  of  surd,  as  well  as  the  worship  of  demons 
and  trees,  all  of  which  go  back  to  the  earliest  times. 
Nor  are  the  hermits  in  the  woods  and  the  wandering 
ascetics  unknown.  . . . The  state  of  civilisation 

described  in  the  Jatakas  is  in  various  respects  primitive, 
and  particularly  noteworthy  is  the  prevalence  of  wood 
architecture,  which,  on  the  evidence  of  the  earliest 
sculptures,  had  almost  disappeared  in  the  third  century 
b.c.  The  Jatakas  even  describe  the  palaces  of  kings  as 
usually  constructed  of  wood.  Many  other  details  might 
be  added,  but  the  facts  given  are  sufficient  for  our 
purpose.”  1 

Professor  Fausbbll  himself,  the  editor  of  the  Ja- 
taka  book,  expresses,  in  the  preface  to  the  last 
volume,  a very  similar  opinion.  The  consensus  of 
opinion  among  these  distinguished  scholars  — the 
only  ones  who  have  written  on  this  particular  point 
— is  sufficient,  at  least,  to  shift  the  burden  of  proof. 
Instead  of  neglecting  altogether,  for  the  history  of 
India,  what  the  Jataka  says,  we  may  make  historical 
inferences  from  statements  made  in  the  stories  them- 
selves (not  in  the  framework)  as  presumptive  evidence 
for  the  period  in  which,  by  a fortunate  chance,  the 
stories  were  preserved  for  us  by  their  inclusion  in 
the  Basket  of  Buddhist  tradition.  That  tradition 
is  found  to  have  preserved,  fairly  enough,  in  political 
and  social  matters,  the  earlier  view.  The  verses,  of 
course,  are  the  most  trustworthy,  as  being,  in  lan- 
guage, some  centuries  older.  But  the  prose,  which 
must  have  accompanied  them  throughout,  and  is 

1 Georg  Biihler,  Indian  Studies , No.  5 (Vienna,  1S95). 


THE  JA  TAKA  BOOK 


205 


taken  for  granted  in  the  illustrations  on  the  ancient 
bas-reliefs,  ought  also,  in  such  questions,  to  have  due 
weight  attached  to  it. 

We  may  already  note  some  points  in  the  com- 
parative age  of  the  Jatakas,  as  compared  one  with 
another,  especially  at  two  stages  in  the  formation  of 
the  tradition.  The  whole  of  the  longer  stories, 
some  of  them  as  long  as  a modern  novelette,  con- 
tained in  vol.  vi.  of  the  edition,  are  later,  both  in 
language  and  in  their  view  of  social  conditions  in 
India,  than  those  in  the  earlier  volumes.  Yet  several 
of  those  latest  in  the  collection  are  shown  by  the 
bas-reliefs  to  have  been  already  in  existence  in  the 
third  century  B.C.  And  this  holds  good,  not  only  of 
the  verses,  but  also  of  the  prose,  for  the  bas-reliefs 
refer  to  the  prose  portions  of  the  tales.1 

So  also,  at  an  earlier  stage,  it  is  possible  to  con- 
clude that  some  of  the  tales,  when  they  were  first 
adopted  into  the  Buddhist  tradition  (that  is,  cer- 
tainly, not  later  than  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century,  B.C.),  were  already  old.  We  have  seen 
above  that,  out  of  those  tales  of  which  we  can 
trace  the  pre-Jataka  book  form,  a large  proportion, 
60  to  70  per  cent.,  had  no  verses.  Now,  in  the 
present  collection,  there  are  a considerable  number 
of  tales  which,  as  tales,  have  no  verses.  The  verses 
(necessarily  added  to  make  the  stories  into  Jatakas) 
are  found  only  in  the  framework.2  And  there  are 

1 See  in  the  Appendix,  under  Vidhura,  Sama,  Ummagga,  and 
Vessantara  Jatakas. 

2 See  now  M.  Senart’s  article  on  these  Abhisambuddha-Gatha,  in 
the  Journal  Asiatique  for  1902. 


206 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


other  tales,  where  the  verses  do  not  occur  in  the  story 
itself,  but  are  put,  like  a chorus,  into  the  mouth  of  a 
fairy  (a  dcvata)  who  has  really  nothing  else  to  do 
with  the  story.  It  follows,  I think,  that  these  stories 
existed,  without  the  verses,  before  they  were  adopted 
into  the  Buddhist  scheme  of  Jatakas  by  having 
verses  added  to  them  ; and  that  they  are,  therefore, 
probably,  not  only  pre-Buddhistic,  but  very  old. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  last 
chapter,  the  very  custom,  on  which  the  Jataka  sys- 
tem is  based,  of  handing  down  tales  or  legends  in 
prose,  with  only  the  conversation  in  verse,  is  itself 
pre-Buddhistic.  And  the  Jataka  Book  is  only  an- 
other example,  on  a very  extensive  scale,  of  that 
pre-Epic  form  of  literature  of  which  there  are  so 
many  other,  shorter,  specimens  preserved  for  us  in 
the  earlier  canonical  texts. 

To  sum  up : 

1.  The  canonical  Book  of  the  Jatakas  contains 
only  the  verses.  It  was  composed  in  North  India, 
in  the  so-called  ‘ Middle  Country,’  before  the  time  of 
Asoka.  It  is  still  unpublished. 

2.  It  is  absolutely  certain  that,  with  these  verses, 
there  must  have  been  handed  down,  from  the  first, 
an  oral  commentary  giving  the  stories  in  prose ; for 
the  verses  without  the  stories  are  unintelligible. 

3.  Bas-reliefs  of  the  third  century  B.C.  have  been 
found  illustrating  a number  of  these  prose  stories. 
One  of  these  bas-reliefs  gives  also  half  of  a verse. 

4.  There  are  Jataka  stories  in  those  canonical 
books  that  are  older  than  the  Jataka  Book. 

5.  These  oldest  extant  Jatakas  are  similes,  parables, 


THE  JA  TAKA  BOOK 


207 


or  legends.  They  usually  give  us  neither  framework 
nor  verses.  In  them  the  Buddha,  in  his  previous 
birth,  is  never  identified  with  an  animal,  or  even  with 
an  ordinary  man.  He  is  identified  only  with  some 
famous  sage  of  bygone  times. 

6.  Our  present  edition  is  not  an  edition  of  the 
text,  but  of  the  commentary.  It  was  written  prob- 
ably in  the  fifth  century  A.D.  in  Ceylon  by  an  author 
whose  name  is  not  known. 

7.  This  commentary,  which  contains  all  the  verses, 
contains  also  the  prose  stories  in  which  they  occur. 
To  each  such  story  it  further  gives  a framework  of 
introductory  episode  (stating  when  and  where  and 
on  what  occasion  the  story  is  supposed  to  have  been 
spoken  by  the  Buddha) ; and  of  final  identification 
(of  the  characters  in  each  story  with  the  Buddha  and 
his  contemporaries  in  a previous  birth). 

8.  This  commentary  is  a translation  into  Pali  of 
the  commentary  as  handed  down  in  Ceylon.  That 
earlier  commentary,  now  lost,  was  in  the  Singhalese 
language  throughout,  except  as  regards  the  verses, 
which  were  in  Pali. 

9.  The  Pali  commentary,  as  we  now  have  it,  has 
in  the  stories  preserved,  for  the  most  part,  the  tra- 
dition handed  down  from  the  third  century  B.c. 
But  in  one  or  two  instances  variations  have  already 
been  discovered. 

10.  As  regards  the  allusions  to  political  and  social 
conditions,  they  refer,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  state 
of  things  that  existed  in  North  India  in  and  before 
the  Buddha's  time. 

1 1.  When  the  original  Jataka  was  being  gradually 


208 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


formed  most  of  the  stories  were  taken  bodily  over 
from  the  existing  folklore  of  North  India. 

12.  Some  progress  has  already  been  made  in  de- 
termining the  relative  age,  at  that  time,  of  the 
stories.  Those  in  the  sixth  and  last  volumes  are 
both  the  longest  and  latest.  Some  of  these  were 
already  selected  for  illustration  on  the  bas-reliefs  of 
the  third  century  B.C. 

13.  All  the  Jatakas  have  verses  attached  to  them. 
In  a few  instances  these  verses  are  in  the  framework, 
not  in  the  stories  themselves.  Such  stories,  without 
the  verses,  have  probably  preserved  the  original  form 
of  the  Indian  folklore. 

14.  In  a few  instances,  the  verses,  though  in  the 
stories,  are  in  them  only  as  a sort  of  chorus,  and  do 
not  form  part  of  the  narrative.  In  these  instances, 
also,  a similar  conclusion  may  be  drawn. 

15.  The  whole  collection  forms  the  most  reliable, 
the  most  complete,  and  the  most  ancient  collection 
of  folklore  now  extant  in  any  literature  in  the  world. 


THE  JA  TAKA  BOOK 


209 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XI 


JATAKAS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  BAS-RELIEFS  ON  THE  BHARAHAT  STUPA 


Plate  n Cunningham’s 

Title  inscribed  on  the  No.  of  Jataka  Name  of  Jataka  in 

Stiipa  ofBharhut 

bas-relief 

in  Fausbol 

Pali 

1. 

XVIII. 

Vitura  Punakiya  Jataka 

545 

Vidhura  Pandita  Jataka 

2. 

XXV. 

Fig.  1 

Miga  Jataka 

12 

Nigrodha  Miga  “ 

3- 

“ 

“ 2 

Naga  Jataka 

267 

Kakkata 

4- 

“ 

“ 3 

Yavamajhakiya  Jataka 

546 

Episode  in  Maha 

Ummagga  “ 

5- 

44 

“ 4 

Mugapakaya  Jataka 

538 

Mugapakkha 

6. 

XXVI. 

“ 5 

Latuva  Jataka 

357 

Latukika 

7- 

“ 

“ 6 

Chadantiya  Jataka 

514 

Chaddanta  “ 

8. 

44 

“ 7 

Isisingiya  Jataka 

523 

Alambusa  “ 

9- 

“ 8 

Yam  bamano  avayesi 

Jataka 

62 

Andha-bhuta 

10. 

XXVII. 

“ 9 

206 

Kurunga-Miga 

11. 

“ 

“ IO 

349 

Sandhi-bheda  “ 

12. 

“ 

“ II 

Hansa  Jataka 

32 

Nacca  “ 

13- 

41 

44  12 

Kinara  Jataka 

48  5 

Canda  Kinnara 

14. 

“ 

“ 13 

181 

Asadisa  “ 

15- 

“ 

“ 14 

461 

Dasaratha 

16. 

XXXIII. 

“ 15 

407 

Maha  Kapi 

1 7- 

XLI. 

“ r-3 

324 

Camma-Sataka  “ 

iS. 

XLIII. 

“ 2.8 

Isimigo  Jataka 

372 

Miga-Potaka 

19 

XLIV. 

4 4 2 

Janako  raja  Sivali  devi 

539 

Maha-Janaka  “ 

20. 

XLV. 

“ 5 

46  & 268 

Arama-Dusaka  “ 

21. 

4* 

“ 7 

42 

Kapota  “ 

22. 

XLVI. 

“ 2 

Uda  Jataka 

400 

Dabbha-Puppha  “ 

23. 

44 

“ 8 

Secha  Jataka 

174 

Dubhiya-Makkata  “ 

24- 

XLVII. 

‘‘  3 

Sujato  gahuto  Jataka 

352 

Sujata  “ 

25- 

“ 

5 

Bidala  Jataka  Kukuta 

Jataka 

383 

Kukkuta 

26. 

XLVIII. 

“ 2 

Maghadeviya  Jataka 

9 

Makha  Deva  “ 

27. 

4 4 

“ 7 

Bhisa  Haraniva  Jataka 

488 

Bhisa  “ 

28. 

L. 

547 

Vessantara  “ 

The  above  table  is  taken,  with  a few  alterations,  from  Professor 
Serge  d’Oldenburg’s  table  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Oriental  Society , vol.  xviii.  1897.  It  is  later  and  better  than  the  one 
in  my  Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  p.  cii.  As  the  number  of  Jatakas  in 
the  printed  collection  is  547  it  will  be  seen  that  rather  more  than 
five  per  cent,  of  them  are  represented  in  this  list  as  having  been 
illustrated  in  the  third  century  b.c. 

As  to  the  spelling  of  the  name  of  the  stupa  the  more  correct 
form  is  Bharahat. 


i+ 


CHAPTER  XII 
RELIGION— ANIMISM 

IT  is  the  accepted  belief  that  it  is  in  the  literature 
of  the  brahmins  that  we  find  the  evidence  as  to 
the  religious  beliefs  of  the  peoples  of  India  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries  B.C.  This  seems  to  me 
more  than  doubtful.  The  priests  have  preserved 
for  us,  not  so  much  the  opinions  the  people  actually 
held,  as  the  opinions  the  priests  wished  them  to 
hold.  When  we  consider  the  enormous  labour  of 
keeping  up  and  handing  down  the  priestly  books — 
and  this  had  to  be  done,  as  we  have  seen,1  entirely 
through  learning  the  books  by  heart — we  are  filled 
with  admiration  for  the  zealous  and  devoted  stu- 
dents who  have  thus  preserved  for  us  a literature  so 
valuable  for  the  history  of  human  thought.  The 
learned  brahmin,  and  not  only  in  this  respect,  is 
a figure  of  whom  India  is  justly  proud.  And  when 
we  consider  how  vague  and  inaccurate  are  the  ac- 
counts preserved  in  the  writings  of  the  Christian 
fathers  of  any  views  except  those  they  themselves 
considered  to  be  orthodox,  we  see  how  unreasonable 
1 Above,  p.  no,  Chapter  VII. 


210 


RELIGION — A NIMISM 


21  I 


it  would  be  to  expect  that  the  brahmins,  whose 
difficulties  were  so  much  greater,  should  have  been 
able  to  do  more.  What  they  have  done  they  have 
done  accurately  and  well.  But  the  record  they  have 
saved  for  us  is  a partial  record. 

What  had  happened  with  respect  to  religious  belief 
is  on  a par  with  what  had  happened  with  respect  to 
language.  From  Takka-sila  all  the  way  down  to 
Champa  no  one  spoke  Sanskrit.  The  living  lan- 
guage, everywhere,  was  a sort  of  Pali.  Many  of  the 
old  Vedic  words  were  retained  in  more  easily  pro- 
nounceable forms.  Many  new  words  had  been 
formed,  on  analogy,  from  the  existing  stock  of  roots. 
Many  other  new  words  had  been  adopted  from  non- 
Aryan  forms  of  speech.  Many  Aryan  words,  which 
do  not  happen  to  occur  in  the  Vedic  texts,  had 
nevertheless  survived  in  popular  use.  And  mean- 
while, in  the  schools  of  the  priests,  and  there  only,  a 
knowledge  of  the  Vedic  language  (which  we  often 
call  Sanskrit)  was  kept  up.  But  even  this  Sanskrit  of 
the  schools  had  progressed,  as  some  would  say,  or  had 
degenerated,  as  others  would  say,  from  the  Vedic 
standard.  And  the  Sanskrit  in  actual  use  in  the 
schools  was  as  far  removed  from  the  Vedic  dialect 
as  it  is  from  the  so-called  classical  Sanskrit  of  the 
post-Buddhistic  poems  and  plays. 

So  with  the  religion.  Outside  the  schools  of  the 
priests  the  curious  and  interesting  beliefs  recorded  in 
the  Rig  Veda  had  practically  little  effect.  The 
Vedic  thaumaturgy  and  theosophy  had  indeed  never 
been  a popular  faith,  that  is,  as  we  know  it.  Both 
its  theological  hypotheses  and  its  practical  magic  (in 


2 I 2 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  ritual)  show  already  a stage  very  much  advanced 
beyond  the  simpler  faith  which  the)-,  in  fact,  presup- 
pose. The  gods  more  usually  found  in  the  older 
systems — the  dread  Mother  Earth,  the  dryads  and 
the  dragons,  the  dog-star,  even  the  moon  and  the 
sun — have  been  cast  into  the  shade  by  the  new  ideas 
(the  new  gods)  of  the  fiie,  the  exciting  drink,  and  the 
thunderstorm.  And  the  charm  of  the  mystery  and 
the  magic  of  the  ritual  of  the  sacrifice  had  to  con- 
tend, so  far  as  the  laity  were  concerned,  with  the 
distaste  induced  by  its  complications  and  its  ex- 
pense. 

I am  aware  that  these  views  as  to  Vedism  are  at 
variance  with  opinions  very  widely,  not  to  say  com- 
monly, held.  Professor  Max  Muller  insisted  to  the 
last  on  the  primitive  nature  of  the  beliefs  recorded 
in  the  Rig  Veda.  Those  beliefs  seem  to  us,  and  in- 
deed are,  so  bizarre  and  absurd,  that  it  is  hard  to 
accept  the  proposition  that  they  give  expression  to 
an  advanced  stage  of  thought.  And  one  is  so  accus- 
tomed to  consider  the  priesthood  as  the  great  obsta- 
cle, in  India,  in  the  way  of  reform,  that  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  that  the  brahmins  could  ever,  as  a class, 
have  championed  the  newer  views. 

But  a comparison  with  the  general  course  of  the 
evolution  of  religious  beliefs  elsewhere  shows  that 
the  beliefs  recorded  in  the  Rig  Veda  are  not  primi- 
tive. A consideration  of  the  nature  of  those  beliefs, 
so  far  as  they  are  not  found  elsewhere,  shows  that 
they  must  have  been,  in  the  view  of  the  men  who 
formulated  them,  a kind  of  advance  on,  or  reform 
of,  the  previous  ideas.  And  at  least  three  lines  of 


RELIGION—  A NIM  ISM 


213 


evidence  all  tend  to  show  that — certainly  all  the 
time  we  are  here  considering,  and  almost  certainly  at 
the  time  when  the  Rig  Veda  was  finally  closed  — 
there  were  many  other  beliefs,  commonly  held 
among  the  Aryans  in  India,  but  not  represented  in 
that  Veda.1 

The  first  of  these  three  lines  is  the  history  of  the 
Atharva  Veda.  This  invaluable  old  collection  of 
charms  to  be  used  in  sorcery  had  been  actually  put 
together  long  before  Buddhism  arose.  But  it  was 
only  just  before  that  time  that  it  had  come  to  be 
acknowledged  by  the  sacrificial  priests  as  a Veda — 
inferior  to  their  own  three  older  ones,  but  still  a Veda. 
This  explains  why  it  is  that  the  Atharva  is  never 
mentioned  as  a Veda  in  the  Buddhist  canonical 
books.2  They  are  constantly  mentioning  the  three 
Vedas  and  the  ancient  lore  connected  with  the  three. 
They  are  constantly  poking  fun  at  the  hocus-pocus 
of  witchcraft  and  sorcery,  and  denying  any  efficiency 
either  to  it,  or  to  the  magic  of  the  sacrifice.  But  in 
the  view  of  the  circles  in  which  these  books  arose 
the  Atharva  collection  had  not  yet  become  a Veda. 

Yet  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices to  which  the  Atharva  Veda  is  devoted  are  as 
old,  if  not  older,  than  those  to  which  the  three  other 
Vedas  refer  ; and  that  they  were  commonly  held  and 
followed  by  the  Aryans  in  India.  The  things  re- 
corded in  the  Rig  may  seem  to  us  as  absurd  as 

1 On  religious  ideas  popular  among  the  people,  but  only  incident- 
ally referred  to  in  the  Veda,  and  not  admitted  into  it  as  part  of  the 
priestly  system  of  belief,  see  Kirste  in  the  Vienna  Oriental  Journal, 
1902,  pp.  63,  foil. 

2 See  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , i.  109. 


214 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


those  in  the  Atharva.  But  we  cannot  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  the  priests  who  made  the  older  col- 
lection were  consciously  exercising  a choice,  that 
they  purposely  omitted  to  include  certain  phases  of 
current  belief  because  those  phases  did  not  appeal 
to  them,  did  not  suit  their  purposes,  or  did  not  seem 
to  them  worthy  of  their  deities.  And  when  we  re- 
member that  what  they  shut  out,  or  nearly  shut  out, 
was  the  lowest  kind  of  savage  superstition  and 
sorcery,  it  is  not  easy  to  deny  them  any  credit  in 
doing  so. 

The  second  is  the  general  view  of  religious  beliefs, 
as  held  by  the  people,  given  to  us  in  the  Epics,  and 
especially  in  the  Maha  Bharata.  It  is,  in  many  re- 
spects, altogether  different  from  the  general  view  as 
given  in  the  Vedic  literature.  We  do  not  know  as 
yet  exactly  which  of  the  conceptions  in  the  Maha 
Bharata  can  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the  seventh  cent- 
ury B.C.  The  poem  has  certainly  undergone  one, 
if  not  two  or  even  three,  alterations  at  the  hand  of 
later  priestly  editors.  But  though  the  changes  made 
in  the  poems  are  due  to  the  priests,  they  were  so 
made  because  the  priests  found  that  ideas  not  cur- 
rent in  their  schools  had  so  much  weight  with  the 
people  that  they  (the  priests)  could  no  longer  afford 
to  neglect  them.  They  must  have  recast  the  poem 
with  two  main  objects  in  view — in  the  first  place  to 
insist  on  the  supremacy  of  the  brahmins,  which  had 
been  so  much  endangered  by  the  great  popularity 
of  the  anti  priestly  views  of  the  Buddhists  and  oth- 
ers ; and  in  the  second  place  to  show  that  the  brah- 
mins were  in  sympathy  with,  and  had  formally 


RELIGION—  A NIMISM 


215 


adopted,  certain  popular  cults  and  beliefs  highly 
esteemed  by  the  people.  In  any  case,  there,  in  the 
poem,  these  cults  and  beliefs,  absent  from  the  Vedic 
literature,  are  found  in  full  life  and  power.  And 
though  this  line  of  evidence,  if  it  stood  alone,  would 
be  too  weak  to  bear  much  weight,  the  most  likely 
explanation  seems  to  be  that  here  also  we  have  evi- 
dence, to  some  extent  at  least,  of  beliefs  not  in- 
cluded in  the  Vedic  literature,  and  yet  current 
among,  and  powerfully  affecting,  both  the  Aryan 
and  the  semi-Aryan  peoples  of  India.1 

The  third  line  is  based  on  the  references  to  the 
religious  beliefs,  not  of  the  Buddhists  themselves, 
but  of  the  people,  recorded  in  the  Buddhist  Canon. 
As  these  have  never  yet  been  collected  or  analysed, 
and  as  they  are  in  many  ways  both  interesting  and 
suggestive,  it  may  be  useful  to  point  out  shortly 
here  the  more  important  of  them. 

The  standard  passages  on  this  question  are  three, 
the  one  in  prose,  the  other  two  in  verse,  and  all  found 
in  our  oldest  documento.  The  first  is  in  the  Silas? 
and  begins  thus : 

“ Whereas  some  recluses  and  brahmins,  while  living  on 
food  provided  by  the  faithful,  are  tricksters,  droners  out 
of  holy  words  for  pay,  diviners,  exorcists,  ever  hungering 
to  add  gain  to  gain,  Gotama  the  recluse  holds  aloof  from 
such  deception  and  patter.” 

There  then  follows  a long  enumeration,  most 

1 Compare  Professor  Hopkins,  J.  A.  O.  S.  1899,  pp.  315,  365  ; 
and  Religions  of  India,  chap.  xiv. 

2 Translated  by  Rh.  D.  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 1.  15. 


216 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Fig.  36.  — SI  RIM  A DRV  AT  A. 
[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxiii.] 


valuable  to  the  his- 
torian, of  all  kinds  of 
animistic  hocus-pocus 
— evidently  forming 
part  of  the  beliefs  of 
the  people  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Ganges  in 
the  sixth  century  B.  C., 
for  how  otherwise 
could  such  “low  arts  ” 
have  been  the  source 
of  gain  to  the  brahmins 
and  others  who  prac- 
tised them  ? We  are 
told  of  palmistry, 
divination  of  all  sorts, 
auguries  drawn  from 
the  celestial  phenom- 
ena, prognostications 
by  interpretation  of 
dreams,  auguries  drawn 
from  marks  on  cloth 
gnawed  by  mice,  sac- 
rifices to  Agni, — it  is 
characteristic  to  find 
these  in  such  company, 
— oblations  of  various 
sorts  to  gods,  deter- 
mining lucky  sites,  re- 
peating charms,  laying 
ghosts,  snake  charm- 
ing, using  similar  arts 


RELIGION— ANIMISM 


217 


on  other  beasts  and  birds,  astrology,  the  power 
of  prophecy,  incantations,  oracles,  consulting  gods 
through  a girl  possessed  or  by  means  of  mirrors, 
worshipping  the  Great  One,  invoking  Sir!  (the  god- 
dess of  Luck),  vowing  vows  to  gods,  muttering 
charms  to  cause  virility  or  impotence,  consecrating 
sites,  and  more  of  the  same  kind.  It  is  a queer 
list ; and  very  suggestive  both  of  the  wide  range  of 
animistic  superstitions,  and  of  the  proportionate 
importance,  then  and  to  the  people  at  large,  of 
those  particular  ones  included  in  the  Veda. 

It  may  be  noticed  in  passing  that  we  have  repre- 
sentations, of  a very  early  date,  of  this  Sir!,  the 
goddess  of  Luck,  of  plenty  and  success,  who  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  Veda.  One  of  these  is  marked  in 
plain  letters  Sirima  Devata ; and  like  Diana  of  the 
Ephesians,  she  bears  on  her  breast  the  signs  of  her 
productivity.  The  other  shows  the  goddess  seated, 
with  two  elephants  pouring  water  over  her.  It  is 
the  oldest  instance  of  the  most  common  representa- 
sentation  of  this  popular  goddess  ; and  figures  of 
her,  exactly  in  this  form,  can  be  bought  to-day  in 
the  bazaars  of  Northern  India.  (Figs.  36,  48,  37.) 

I am  allowed,  by  the  kindness  of  Mrs.  Craven, 
to  add  a reproduction  of  a photograph  of  an  image 
of  this  popular  deity  which  was  recently  found  in  the 
south  of  India.  It  is  probably  of  about  the  eleventh 
century,  and  is  decisive  evidence  that  the  worship  of 
this  non-Vedic  goddess  prevailed  also  in  the  interval 
between  the  date  of  the  oldest  sculptures  and  our 
own  time.  (Fig.  38.) 

That  Sirl  was  already  a popular  deity  in  the 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


218 


Buddha’s  time  explains  the  fact  that  the  priests  had 
been  compelled  to  acknowledge  her  and  to  invent 


Fig.  37. — MODERN  IMAGE  OF  SRf  AS  CONSORT  VISHNU. 
[From  Burgess’s  Cave  Temples  0/ India,  p.  524.] 


a special  legend  to  excuse  their  doing  so  1 ; and 
that  they  incidentally  mention  her,  once  again,  in 

1 Satapatha  Brahmana,  xi.  4,  3. 


RELIGION — A NIM1SM 


219 


mystic  conjunction  with  the  dread  deities  of  the 
Moon,  and  the  Sun,  and  Mother  Earth.'  Even  these 
other  three,  though  noticed  in  the  Veda,  are  put 
far  into  the  background  compared  with  Indra,  Agni, 
Soma,  and  Varuna;  but  it  is  highly  probable  that 
they  really  occupied  a very  much  larger  share  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  India  than  these  sparse 
notices  in  the  Veda  would  tend  to  show.  In  mod- 
ern mythology  Sir!  or  Sri  is  regarded  as  a consort  of 
Vishnu. 

The  other  two  passages,  in  verse,  form  whole  Sut- 
tantas  — the  Maha  Samaya  Suttanta,  No.  20,  in  the 
Dlgha,  now  edited  for  the  Pali  Text  Society,  and 
translated  in  my  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , vol.  ii. ; 
and  the  Atanatiya  Suttanta,  No.  32,  in  the  same  col- 
lection. In  the  first  of  these  two  poems  some  un- 
known early  Buddhist  poet  describes  how  all  the 
gods  of  the  people  come  to  pay  reverence,  at  Kapi- 
lavastu,  to  the  new  teacher,  and  to  his  order  of 
mendicant  recluses.  In  the  second  of  them  another 
unknown  poet  describes  how  certain  of  the  gods 
come  to  ask  him  to  adopt  a form  of  words  which 
will  turn  the  hearts  of  other  deities  unfriendly  to 
the  new  doctrine,  and  make  them  leave  it  and  its 
followers  in  peace.  And  the  form  of  words  gives 
the  names  of  all  the  gods  whom  it  is  considered  de- 
sirable thus  to  propitiate. 

These  two  poems  form  a suggestive  parallel  to 
the  method  followed  by  the  brahmins  of  adopting, 
one  by  one,  the  popular  faiths.  It  shows  how 
similar  are  the  motives  that  influence  religious 
1 Taittiriya  Up.  I.  4. 


220 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


leaders,  however  diametrically  opposed  their  views 
may  be.  And  in  both  cases  the  effort  had  a similar 
result.  The  object  was  to  reconcile  the  people  to 
different  ideas.  The  actual  consequence  was  that 
the  ideas  of  the  people,  thus  admitted,  as  it  were,  by 
the  back  door,  filled  the  whole  mansion,  and  the 
ideas  it  was  hoped  they  would  accept  were  turned 
out  into  the  desert,  there  ultimately  to  pass  abso- 
lutely away.  Nearer  home,  too,  we  may  call  to 
mind  similar  events. 

Our  two  poets  are  naturally  anxious  to  include  in 
their  lists  all  the  various  beliefs  which  had  most 
weight  with  those  whom  they  would  fain  persuade. 
The  poet  of  the  Malta  Samaya  (the  Great  Con- 
course) enumerates  first  the  spirits  of  the  Earth  and 
of  the  great  Mountains.  Then  the  Four  Great 
Kings,  the  guardians  of  the  four  quarters,  East  and 
South  and  West  and  North.  One  of  these  four, 
Vessavana  Kuvera,  is  the  god  who  in  the  second 
poem  is  the  spokesman  for  all  the  rest.  (Fig.  39.) 

Then  come  the  Gandharvas,  heavenly  musicians, 
supposed  to  preside  over  child-bearing  and  birth, 
and  to  be  helpful  to  mortals  in  many  ways. 

Then  come  the  Nagas,  the  Siren-serpents,  whose 
worship  has  been  so  important  a factor  in  the 
folklore,  superstition,  and  poetry  of  India  from 
the  earliest  times  down  to-day.  Cobras  in  their 
ordinary  shape,  they  lived,  like  mermen  and  mer- 
maids, beneath  the  waters,1  in  great  luxury  and 
wealth,  more  especially  of  gems,  and  sometimes, 
as  we  shall  see,  the  name  is  used  of  the  Dryads, 
1 See,  for  instance,  Samyutta,  vol.  v.  pp.  47,  63. 


Fig.  38. — Hindoo  goddess  of  luck. 


221 


Fig.  39. — VESSAVANA  KUVERA, 
KING  OF  THE  YAKSHAS,  AND 
REGENT  OF  THE  NORTH. 


[From  the  Bharahat  Tope.  PI.  xxii.] 


FlG.  40. — CHAKAVAKA  KING  OF  THE 
NAGAS. 

[From  Cunningham’s  Stupa  of  Bharkut 
Pi.  xxi.  Fig.  3.] 


222 


RELIGION— A NIMISM 


223 


the  tree-spirits,  equally  wealthy  and  powerful. 
They  could  at  will,  and  often  did,  adopt  the  human 
form;  and  though  terrible  if  angered,  were  kindly 
and  mild  by  nature.  Not  mentioned  either  in 


Fig.  41. — NAGA  MERMAIDS  IN  WATER. 

[From  Burgess  and  Griinwedel’s  Buddhist  Art  in  India.] 

the  Veda  or  in  the  pre-Buddhistic  Upanishads, 
the  myth  seems  to  be  a strange  jumble  of  beliefs, 
not  altogether  pleasant,  about  a strangely  gifted 
race  of  actual  men  ; combined  with  notions  derived 


224 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


from  previously  existing  theories  of  tree-worship, 
and  serpent-worship,  and  river-worship.  But  the  his- 
tory of  the  idea  has  still  to  be  written.  These  Nagas 
are  represented  on  the  ancient  bas-reliefs  as  men  or 
women  either  with  cobra’s  hoods  rising  from  behind 
their  heads  or  with  serpentine  forms  from  the  waist 
downwards. 

Then  come  the  Garulas,  or  Garudas,  the  Indian 
counterpart  of  the  harpy  and  griffin,  half  man,  half 
bird,  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Nagas,  on  whom 
they  feed.  They  were  also,  perhaps,  originally  a 
tribe  of  actual  men,  with  an  eagle  or  a hawk  as 
their  token  on  their  banner. 

Then  come  a goodly  crowd  of  Titans,  and  sixty 
kinds  of  gods,  of  whom  only  about  half  a dozen 
are  Vedic,  the  other  names  offering  only  puzzles 
which  await  the  solution  of  future  enquirers.  First 
we  have  the  gods  of  kindly  nature  and  good 
character;  then  the  souls  or  spirits  supposed  to 
animate  and  to  reside  in  the  moon  and  the  sun  (the 
moon  is  always  mentioned  first),  in  the  wind,  the 
cloud,  the  summer  heat;  then  the  gods  of  light; 
then  a curious  list  of  gods,  personifications  of  vari- 
ous mental  qualities;  then  the  spirits  in  the  thunder 
and  the  rain  ; and,  lastly,  the  great  gods  who  dwell 
in  the  highest  heavens  (that  is,  are  the  outcome  of 
the  highest  speculation),  like  Brahma  himself,  and 
Paramatta,  and  Sanam  Kumara. 

The  list  seems  inclusive  enough.  But  why  does 
it  make  no  mention  of  tree-gods?  For  if  we  take  as 
our  guide,  and  we  could  scarcely  do  better,  Mrs. 
Philpot’s  excellent  monograph  on  The  Sacred  Tree , 


Fig.  42. — SEATED  NAGA;  BACK  VIEW. 
[From  a frescoe  in  Cave  II  at  Ajanta.] 


225 


226 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


in  which  the  most  important  facts  as  to  tree- 
worship  throughout  the  world  are  collected  and 
classified,  we  find  that  a number  of  fancies  about 
trees,  varying  from  the  most  naive  results  of  the 
savage  soul-theories  up  to  philosophic  speculations 
of  an  advanced  kind,  have  been  widely  current 
among  all  forms  of  faith,  and  have  been  traced  also 
in  India. 

Now,  so  far  as  I can  call  to  mind,  none  of  these 
fancies  (with  one  interesting  exception,  on  which 
see  below)  is  referred  to  in  the  principal  early  books 
setting  out  theBuddhist  doctrine — the  Four  Nikayas, 
for  instance,  and  the  Sutta  Nipata.  But  in  older 
and  later  documents  several  of  these  beliefs  can  be 
found.  The  conclusion  is  obvious.  Those  beliefs 
as  to  tree-worship  mentioned  in  pre-Buddhistic  lit- 
erature formed  part,  at  the  time  of  the  rise  of 
Buddhism,  of  the  religion  of  the  people.  They 
were  rejected  by  the  early  Buddhists.  But  they 
continued  to  form  part  of  the  religion  of  those  of 
the  people  who  were  uninfluenced  by  the  new  teach- 
ing. And  one  or  two  of  them  found  their  way 
back  into  one  or  other  of  the  later  schools  of 
Buddhism. 

Already  in  the  Vedas  themselves  we  have  a num- 
ber of  passages  in  which  trees  are  invoked  as  deities.1 
This  is  decisive  of  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the 
Aryans  in  early  times  in  India.  For  it  was,  of 
course,  not  the  trees  as  such,  but  the  souls  or  spirits 
supposed  to  dwell  within  them,  to  haunt  them,  that 
were  looked  upon  as  gods.  That  this  notion  sur- 
1 See  Macdonell,  Vedic  Mythology,  p.  154. 


RELIGION— ANIMISM 


227 


vived  down  to  the  rise  of  Buddhism  is  shown  in  the 
Upanishads.  If  the  soul  leaves  the  tree,  the  tree 
withers,  but  the  soul  does  not  die.1  These  souls 
may  have  dwelt,  and  may  dwell  again,  in  human 
bodies.2  And  long  after  the  rise  of  Buddhism  ideas 
associated  with  this  belief  are  often  referred  to. 
Offerings  are  made  to  these  tree-spirits,3  even  human 
sacrifices  are  offered,4  they  were  consulted  as  oracles, 
and  expected  to  give  sons  and  wealth,3  they  injure 
those  who  injure  the  trees  in  which  they  dwell,6  and 
they  are  pleased  when  garlands  are  hung  upon  the 
branches,  lamps  are  lighted  round  it,  and  Bali  offer- 
ings are  made  (that  is  food  is  thrown),  at  the  foot  of 
the  tree.7  The  brahmin  priests,  too,  are  enjoined  in 
their  books  of  sacred  law  and  custom  to  throw  such 
Bali  offerings  to  the  tree-spirits.8 

All  the  above  is  tree-worship— or  more  correctly 
dryad-worship — pure  and  simple.  When  we  find 
the  world-soul  spoken  of  as  a tree  that  has  its  roots 
in  heaven,9  that  is  poetry,  a simile  based  perhaps  on 
the  mystery  of  growth,  but  still  only  a simile.  The 
idea  of  the  Kalpa-rukkha,  the  Wishing  Tree,  which 
will  give  one  all  one  wants,  has  not  as  yet  been 
traced  back  earlier  than  some  centuries  after  the 
date  we  are  considering.10 

But  Fergusson’s  explanation  of  the  old  monuments 


1 Chand.  Up.  vi.  11  ; see  Jat.  4.  154. 

3 J.  R.  A.  S.  1901,  p.  886. 

5 Jat.  Nos.  98,  109,  307,  493. 

1 Jat.  3.  23  ; 4.  153. 

9 Kathaka  Up.  vi.  1;  Svet.  Up.,  iii.  9. 

10  The  earliest  reference  to  this  idea  I have  been  able  to  find  is  the 
Ayaranga,  p.  127  (see  Jacobi,  Jaina  Sutras , 1.  197). 


2 Kathaka  Up.  v.  7. 

4 Jat.  5-  472,  474.  488. 
6 Jat.  4.  210,  353. 

8 Manu,  iii.  88,  etc. 


228 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


as  being  devoted  to  tree-worship  requires  altogether 
restating.  With  all  his  genius  he  was  attempting 
the  impossible  when  he  tried  to  interpret  the  work 


FlG.  43. — ELEPHANTS  BEFORE  THE  WISDOM  TREE. 
[From  Cunningham’s  Stiipa  0/ Bharhut.  PI.  xxx.] 


of  Indian  artists  without  a knowledge  of  Indian 
literature.  His  mistake  was  really  very  natural. 
At  first  sight  such  bas-reliefs  as  those  here  figured 
(Figures  43  and  44)  seem  most  certainly  to  show 


RELIGION — A NIMISM 


229 


men  and  animals  worshipping  a tree,  that  is  the 
spirit  residing  in  a tree.  But  on  looking  farther  we 


Fig.  44. — THE  WISDOM  TREE  OF  KASSAPA,  THE  BUDDHA. 


[From  Cunningham’s  Stiipa  0/ Bharhut . PI.  xxx.] 


see  that  the  tree  has  over  it  an  inscription  stating 
that  it  is  “the  Bodhi  Tree,  the  tree  of  wisdom,  of 
Kassapa  the  Exalted  One.”  Every  Buddha  is  sup- 


230 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


posed  to  have  attained  enlightenment  under  a tree. 
The  tree  differs  in  the  accounts  of  each  of  them. 
Our  Buddha’s  “ Wisdom  Tree,”  for  instance,  is  of  the 
kind  called  the  Assattha  or  Pippal  tree.  Now  while 
in  all  the  oldest  accounts  of  Gotama’s  attainment 
of  Buddha-hood  there  is  no  mention  of  the  tree 
under  which  he  was  sitting  at  the  time,1  yet  already 
in  a Suttanta’  it  is  incidentally  mentioned  that  this 
event  took  place  under  a Pippal  tree;  and  this  is 
often  referred  to  in  later  books.  In  these  old  sculp- 
tures the  Buddha  himself  is  never  represented  di- 
rectly, but  always  under  a symbol.  What  we  have 
here  then  is  reverence  paid  to  the  tree,  not  for  its 
own  sake,  and  not  to  any  soul  or  spirit  supposed  to 
be  in  it,  but  to  the  tree  either  as  the  symbol  of  the 
Master,  or  because  (as  in  the  particular  case  repre- 
sented in  the  figures)  it  was  under  a tree  of  that  kind 
that  his  followers  believed  that  a venerated  Teacher 
of  old  had  become  a Buddha.  In  either  case  it  is  a 
straining  of  terms,  a misrepresentation  or  at  best  a 
misunderstanding,  to  talk  of  tree-worship.  The  Pip- 
pal was  a sacred  tree  at  the  date  of  these  sculptures, 
— sacred,  that  is,  to  the  memory  of  the  beloved 
Master,  who  had  passed  away;  and  it  had  acquired  the 
epithet  of  “ Tree  of  Wisdom.”  But  the  wisdom  was 
the  wisdom  of  the  Master  not  of  the  tree  or  of  the  tree- 
god,  and  could  not  be  obtained  by  eating  of  its  fruit. 

These  ideas  are  of  course  post- Buddhistic.  They 
could  have  arisen  in  a perfectly  natural  way  simply 
because  the  tradition  was  that  Gotama  had,  at  that 
crisis  in  his  life,  sat  under  a Pippal  tree.  And  it  is 

1 M.  j.  22,  117,  249.  ! D.  2.  52. 


KELIGIOX — A NIM  ISM 


23I 


very  possible  that  the  tradition  may,  so  soon  after- 
wards, have  been  perfectly  right.  We  know  as  an 
actual  fact  that  thinking  was  much  more  frequent,  in 
that  beautiful  climate,  in  the  open  air,  than  between 
four  walls.  The  appreciation  of  the  beauties  of  na- 
ture, so  conspicuous  in  many  of  the  early  Buddhist 
poems,  is  an  Indian,  not  a Buddhist  trait.  And  it  was 
to  a prevalent  Indian,  not  only  a Buddhist,  sentiment 
that  the  Buddha  is  represented  to  have  appealed, 
when  at  the  end  of  some  earnest  dialogue  on  a 
weighty  point  of  ethics  or  philosophy,  he  is  said  to 
have  been  wont  to  close  with  the  appeal:  “Here 
are  trees ; think  this  matter  out!”  It  is  therefore 
by  no  means  impossible  that  it  was  under  a Pippal 
tree  the  Buddha  clenched  the  essential  points  in  his 
new  doctrine  of  life.  And,  if  so,  is  it  not  quite  con- 
ceivable that  his  disciples  should  have  recollected  so 
simple  and  natural  a fact  connected  with  what  they 
regarded,  not  only  as  the  turning-point  in  his  career, 
as  his  Nirvana,  but  as  the  turning-point  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  ? 

Another  hypothesis  is  possible  — that  the  disciples, 
in  all  good  faith,  associated  their  Master  with  this 
particular  tree  because  it  already,  before  his  time, 
had  been  especially  sacred  above  all  other  trees. 
The  tradition  may  then  have  been  the  result  of  this 
feeling.  The  tree  was  certainly  held  in  high  esteem 
even  as  early  as  the  Vedic  poems.  Vessels  for  the 
mystic  Soma  cult  were  made  of  its  wood  ; and  so 
were  the  caskets  containing  the  medicinal  herbs  used 
in  the  mystic  craft  of  the  physician  of  the  day.  The 
upper  portion  in  the  fire-drill  — and  the  production 


232 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  fire  was  held  to  be  a mystery  — was  of  the  wood 
of  the  Pippal  tree.  And  in  one  passage  the  tree  in 
heaven  under  which  the  souls  of  the  blessed  recline 
is  likened  to  a Pippal.1  Whether  this  would  be 
sufficient  reason  for  the  rise  of  the  tradition  inay  be 
doubtful.  But  such  associations  would  certainly  add 
to  its  hold  on  popular  imagination,  if  it  had  once 
otherwise  arisen. 

It  is,  however,  never  to  the  Pippal  tree  to  which 
the  folklore  quoted  above  attributed  divine  power. 
It  happens  always  to  be  some  other  tree.  And  we 
know  too  little  to  be  able  to  be  quite  sure  that  this 
is  merely  a matter  of  chance.  The  tree-deities  were 
called  Nagas,  and  were  able  at  will,  like  the  Nagas, 
to  assume  the  human  form;  and  in  one  story  2 the 
spirit  of  a banyan  tree  who  reduced  the  merchants  to 
ashes  is  called  a Naga-raja,  the  soldiers  he  sends  forth 
from  his  tree  are  Nagas,  and  the  tree  itself  is  “the 
dwelling-place  of  the  Naga.”  This  may  explain  why 
it  is  that  the  tree-gods  are  not  specially  and  separately 
mentioned  in  the  Maha  Samaya  list  of  deities  who  are 
there  said  by  the  poet  to  have  come  to  pay  reverence 
to  the  Buddha.  In  any  case  we  must  add  tree-wor- 
ship, the  worship  of  powerful  spirits  supposed  to 
dwell  in  trees,  to  the  list  of  those  beliefs,  scarcely 
noticed  in  the  Vedas,  that  were  an  important  part  of 
the  religion  of  the  peoples  of  Northern  India  at  the 
time  of  the  rise  of  Buddhism. 

In  neither  of  these  two  lists  is  Indra,  the  great  god 

1 See,  on  all  these  points,  the  passages  quoted  by  Zimmer,  Alt- 
indisc  he  s Lehen , p.  58. 

s Jataka  No.  493. 


Fig.  45. — THE  BUDDHA  PREACHING  TO  NAGAS  DWELLING  IN  A SACRED  TREE. 
233  FROM  A BUDDHIST  CARVING  AT  TAKT-I-BAHI. 

\J.  R.  A.S  1899.] 


234 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  the  Veda,  even  mentioned.  His  place,  as  bearer 
of  the  thunderbolt,  is  taken  by  Sakka,  who  is  in 
many,  if  not  in  most,  respects  a quite  different  con- 
ception. We  should  never  forget  in  what  degree  all 
these  gods  are  real.  They  had  no  real  objective  ex- 
istence. But  they  were  real  enough  as  ideas  in  men’s 
minds.  At  any  given  moment  the  gods  of  a nation 
seem  eternal,  unchangeable.  As  a matter  of  fact 
they  are  constantly  slightly  changing.  No  two  men, 
thinking  of  the  same  god,  even  on  the  same  day,  and 
amid  the  same  surroundings,  have  quite  the  same 
mental  image;  nor  is  the  proportionate  importance 
of  that  god  as  compared  with  their  respective  con- 
ceptions of  other  gods  (that  is,  as  compared  with 
their  other  ideas)  quite  the  same.  Just  as  a man’s 
visible  frame,  though  no  change  may  at  any  moment 
be  perceptible,  is  never  really  the  same  for  two  con- 
secutive moments,  and  the  result  of  constant  minute 
variations  becomes  clear  after  a lapse  of  time,  so  the 
idea  summed  up  by  the  name  of  a god  becomes 
changed  by  the  gradual  accretion  of  minute  varia- 
tions; and  this  change,  after  a lapse  of  time  (it  may 
be  generations,  it  may  be  centuries),  becomes  so  clear 
that  a new  name  arises,  and  gradually,  very  gradu- 
ally, ousts  the  older  one.  Then  the  older  god  is 
dead.  As  the  Buddhist  poets  put  it,  “ the  flowers  of 
the  garlands  he  wore  are  withered,  his  robes  of 
majesty  have  waxed  old  and  faded,  he  falls  from  his 
high  estate,  and  is  re-born  into  a new  life.”  He  lives 
again,  as  we  might  say,  in  the  very  outcome  of  his 
former  life,  in  the  new  god  who,  under  the  new 
name,  reigns  in  men’s  hearts. 


REL 1GION- — A NIMISM 


235 


So  Jupiter  ousted  Chronos,  and  Indra  himself  had 
almost  ousted  Trita,  even  in  the  Veda;  and  Indra 
and  others  had  almost  ousted  Varuna.  So  in  the 
period  we  are  considering  had  Sakka,  in  his  turn,  al- 
most ousted  Indra.  Though  the  epic  poets  after- 
wards did  their  best  to  re-establish  Indra  on  the 
throne,  they  had  but  poor  success  ; for  his  name  and 
his  fame  had  dwindled  away.  And  we  catch  sight  of 
him,  in  these  records,  just  as  he  is  fading  dimly  away 
on  the  horizon,  and  changing  his  shape  into  that  of 
the  successor  to  his  dignity  and  power.1 

It  is  the  same,  but  in  each  case  in  different  de- 
grees, with  other  Vedic  gods.  It  were  tedious  here 
to  go  at  length  into  each  case.  Isana,  the  vigorous 
and  youthful  form  of  the  dread  Siva  of  the  future,  is 
already  on  a level  with  Soma  and  Varuna.  And 
Pajapati  and  Brahma3  will  soon  come  to  be  consid- 
ered as  co-partners  with  Sakka  in  the  lordship  over 
all  the  gods.3  The  worship  of  Agni  is  scoffed  at  as 
on  a par  with  the  hocus-pocus  of  witchcraft  and 
divination,4  and  it  is  soon  to  be  laughed  to  scorn  in 
the  amusing  tales  of  the  folklore  of  the  people.5 
Vayu,  the  wind-god,  never  very  important,  is  just 
mentioned  in  our  list,  but  nowhere  else  in  texts 
of  that  age,  and  will  soon  also  be  the  laughing-stock 
of  the  story-teller.6  Varuna  is  still  a power,  ranked 
with  the  highest,7  but  he  will  soon  be  reduced  to  a 
tree-god,8  a Naga  king,9  a lord  of  the  oracle  girls,10 


'Jat.,  4.  8. 

5 D.  1.  244  ; S.  1.  219. 

3 Jacobi,  Jaiua  Sutras , 1.  198. 

4 D.  1.  67. 

5Jatakas  Nos.  35  and  162. 


6 Jataka  No.  17. 

1 S.  1.  219  ; Jat.  5.  28,  6.  201. 

8 Jat.  4.  S. 

9 Jat.  6.  164,  257-329. 

10  The  Varunis,  Jat.  6.  586. 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


236 

who,  possessed  by  the  god,  will,  as  Pythias,  prophesy 
smooth  things.  And  Vishnu,  though  mentioned  in 
our  poem  under  the  name  of  Venhu,  has  scarcely  as 
yet  appeared  above  the  horizon.  Pajjunna  is  still 
the  rain-god  in  the  Suttantas;  he  is  mentioned  in 
both  poems;  and  has  retained  this  character  even  in 
the  folklore.1 

I know  of  no  other  Vedic  gods  mentioned  in  this 
literature.  Dyaus,  Mitra,  and  Savitri,  Pushan,  the 
Aditvas,  the  Asvins  and  the  Maruts,  Aditi  and  Diti 
and  UrvasI,  and  many  more,  are  all  departed.  They 
survive  only  within  the  enclosures  of  the  Vedic 
schools.  The  people  know  them  no  longer. 

Now  there  is  no  doubt  a long  interval  of  time 
between  the  close  of  the  Rig  Veda  collection  of 
hymns  and  the  rise  of  Buddhism.  The  Vedic  an- 
thology, small  as  it  is,  may  not  give,  even  for  its  own 
time,  a complete  statement  of  Indian  belief.  Some 
of  the  differences  between  Vedic  mythology  and 
popular  religion  at  the  time  of  the  rise  of  Buddhism 
may  therefore  be  due  to  the  influence  of  an  un- 
recorded past.  But  this  can  only  explain  a part,  and 
probably  a small  part,  of  the  difference.  The  old 
gods,  that  is  the  old  ideas,  when  they  have  survived, 
have  been  so  much  changed  ; so  many  of  them  have 
not  survived  at  all;  so  many  new  ones  have  sprung 
into  vigorous  life  and  wide-reaching  influence,  that 
one  conclusion  is  inevitable.  The  common  view 
that  the  Indians  were  very  different  from  other  folk 
in  similar  stages  of  development,  that  to  that  differ- 
ence was  due  the  stolid,  not  to  say  stupid,  conserva- 
1 J.  1.  332.  4-  253  ; C.  P.  3.  10.  7. 


RELIGION — A NIM  ISM 


237 


tism  of  their  religious  conceptions,  that  they  were 
more  given  to  superstition,  less  intellectual,  than  for 
instance  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  must  be  given  up. 
Derived  partly  from  a too  exclusive  study  of  the 
priestly  books,  partly  from  reading  back  into  the 
past  a mistaken  view  of  modern  conditions,  it  can- 
not stand  against  the  new  evidence  derived  from  the 
Jain  and  Buddhist  literatures  written,  or  rather  com- 
posed, in  independence  of  the  priests.  The  real 
facts  lead  to  the  opposite  view.  They  show  a con- 
stant progress  from  Vedic  times  onwards.  Some 
reasons  for  this  will  be  suggested  in  the  next  chapter. 
But  whatever  the  facts,  and  whatever  the  reasons  for 
them,  we  are  not  likely  to  cease  from  hearing  that 
parrot  cry  of  self-complacent  ignorance,  “ The  im- 
movable East”  — the  implied  sop  to  vanity  is  too 
sweet  to  be  neglected. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


RELIGION  — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION 
HESE  details  of  the  lower  phases  of  religion  in 


India  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.  have  great  and 
essential  similarity  with  the  beliefs  held,  not  only  at 
the  same  time  in  the  other  centres  of  civilisation,— 
in  China,  Persia,  and  Egypt,  in  Italy  and  Greece,— 
but  also  among  the  savages  of  then  and  now.  But 
there  is  a further  and  more  striking  resemblance. 
Sir  Henry  Maine  has  said:  “Nothing  is  more  re- 
markable than  the  extreme  fewness  of  progressive 
societies  — the  difference  between  them  and  the  sta- 
tionary races  is  one  of  the  greatest  secrets  enquiry 
has  yet  to  penetrate.”  1 

Whatever  the  secret,  above  and  beyond  the  influ- 
ence of  economic  conditions,  may  have  been,  we 
know  that  civilisation,  of  a kind  at  least,  extended 
back  in  time,  on  the  four  great  river  basins  of  the 
Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  the  Ganges  and  the  Yellow 
River,  not  merely  through  centuries,  but  through 
thousands  of  years,  if  reckoned  from  to-day.  Yet  in 


1 Ancient  Law , p.  22. 
238 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  239 


each  of  those  places  — though  there  was  a real  and 
progressive  civilisation,  and  ideas  and  customs  were 
no  doubt  constantly  changing  and  growing — there 
was  a certain  dead  level,  if  not  a complete  ab- 
sence of  what  we  should  call  philosophic  thought. 
The  animistic  hypotheses,  the  soul-theories,  of  their 
savage  ancestors  seemed  sufficient,  even  to  the  pro- 
gressive races,  to  explain  all  that  they  saw  or  felt. 
Men  varied,  but  never  dreamed  of  rejecting,  the 
soul-theories.  They  did  not  even  build  up  on  the 
basis  of  them  any  large  and  general  views,  either  of 
ethics,  or  of  philosophy,  or  of  religion.  Then  sud- 
denly, and  almost  simultaneously,  and  almost  cer- 
tainly independently,  there  is  evidence,  about  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,  in  each  of  these  widely  separated 
centres  of  civilisation,  of  a leap  forward  in  specula- 
tive thought,  of  a new  birth  in  ethics,  of  a religion 
of  conscience  threatening  to  take  the  place  of  the 
old  religion  of  custom  and  magic.  In  each  of  these 
countries  similar  causes,  the  same  laws  regulating 
the  evolution  of  ideas,  had  taken  just  about  the 
same  number  of  centuries  to  evolve,  out  of  similar 
conditions,  a similar  result.  Is  there  a more  stupen- 
dous marvel  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind? 
Does  any  more  suggestive  problem  await  the  solu- 
tion of  the  historian  of  human  thought  ? 

The  solution  will  not  be  possible  till  we  have  a 
more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  which 
led  up,  in  each  country,  to  the  awakening.  And  in 
India  one  important  factor  in  the  preceding  circum- 
stances seems  to  me  to  have  been,  hitherto,  too 
much  neglected.  The  intense  interest,  from  the 


240 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


world-history  point  of  view,  of  the  sixth  century  B.C. 
— the  best  dividing  line,  if  there  ever  was  any,  be- 
tween ancient  history  and  modern,  between  the  old 
order  and  the  new — would  be  sufficient  excuse,  if 
one  were  needed,  for  a somewhat  detailed  con- 
sideration of  this  particular  point. 

In  India,  as  elsewhere,  the  whole  of  the  popular 
animistic  notions  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter, 
and  no  doubt  others  also,  survived  in  full  force. 
But  no  one  man  believed  in  them  all,  or  even  knew 
of  them  all.  In  that  part  of  the  priestly  literature 
which  has  come  down  to  us  a certain  selected 
portion  of  these  beliefs  is  taken,  as  it  were,  under 
priestly  patronage,  has  received  the  stamp  of  re- 
spectability, has  been  given  such  social  rank  as  the 
priests  could  confer.  They  seldom,  perhaps  never, 
stepped  outside  the  charmed  circle  of  animistic 
magic.  But  what  they  chose  was  probably,  on  the 
whole,  of  a better  kind  than  what  they  left  to  itself. 
Even  so  the  contents  of  the  priestly  books  on  ritual, 
though  a rich  mine  of  materials  for  a history  of 
magic  and  superstition,  are  unspeakably  banal.  M. 
Sylvain  Levi,  the  author  of  the  most  authoritative 
work  on  this  subject,  says  in  the  introduction  to  his 
summary  of  the  Brahmana  theory  of  sacrifice  : 

“ It  is  difficult  to  imagine  anything  more  brutal 
and  more  material  than  the  theology  of  the  Brah- 
manas.  Notions  which  usage  afterwards  gradually 
refined,  and  clothed  with  a garb  of  morality,  take 
us  aback  by  their  savage  realism.” 

Or  again  : 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  24  I 


“ Morality  finds  no  place  in  this  system.  Sacrifice, 
which  regulates  the  relation  of  man  to  the  divinities, 
is  a mechanical  act,  operating  by  its  own  spontane- 
ous energy  (par  son  energie  intime)  ; and  that,  hidden 
in  the  bosom  of  nature,  is  only  brought  out  by  the 
magic  art  of  the  priest.”  1 

To  these  writers,  the  sacrifice,  if  only  rigidly 
carried  out  in  each  one  of  its  details,  is  the  source  of 
all  profit  and  advantage.  The  gods  (who  are  quite 
unmoral,  not  immoral,  though  they  are  represented 
in  these  texts  as  having  been  guilty  of  falsehood,  chi- 
canery, and  incest)  are  utterly  unable  to  counteract 
the  effect  of  such  a sacrifice.  Indeed  they  owe  their 
own  supremacy,  their  own  position  in  heaven,  to  sac- 
rifices they  themselves  had  thus  carried  out  to  older 
gods.  And  it  is  by  the  same  means  that  they  con- 
tinue to  defeat  the  Asuras,  that  is  the  Titans,  the 
rival  gods,  who  would  otherwise  storm  the  gates 
of  heaven. 

There  were  no  temples,  and  probably  no  images. 
The  altars  were  put  up  anew  for  each  sacrifice  in 
a field  or  garden  belonging  to  the  sacrificer.  The 
benefit  to  accrue  from  the  sacrifice  went  to  him, 
and  to  him  alone.  He  therefore  had  to  pay  for 
the  performance  ; for  the  animals  to  be  slaughtered, 
for  the  numerous  work  people  employed,  and  for 
the  fees  for  the  priests. 

“ As  to  the  fees,  the  rules  are  precise,  and  the  pro- 
pounders of  them  are  unblushing.  The  priest  performs 
the  sacrifice  for  the  fee  alone,  and  it  must  consist 

1 Doctrine  die  sacrifice  chez  les  Brahmanas , p.  g (Paris,  1898). 

l6 


242 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  valuable  garments,  kine,  horses,  or  gold  ; — when 
each  is  to  be  given  is  carefully  stated.  Gold  is  coveted 
most,  for  ‘ this  is  immortality,  the  seed  of  Agni,’  and 
therefore  peculiarly  agreeable  to  the  pious  priest.”  1 

It  would  be  unnecessary  to  go  into  the  intermin- 
able detail  of  such  sacrifices.  They  are  expounded 
very  fully  and  carefully  in  Professor  Hillebrandt’s 
standard  works  on  the  subject.2  The  expense  must 
have  been  very  great,  even  for  the  less  complicated  ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  this  had  something  to  do 
with  the  fact  that  a way  was  discovered  to  obtain 
the  desired  result  without  sacrifice. 

The  nearer  we  get  to  the  time  of  Buddhism  the 
greater  is  the  importance  we  find  attached  to  this 
second  method,  that  of  iapas, — self-mortification,  or 
more  exactly,  self-torture.  The  word  occurs,  in  this 
its  technical  sense,  in  the  latest  hymns  included  in 
the  Rig  Veda.  It  is  literally  “ burning,  glow  ” ; and 
had  then  already  acquired  the  secondary  sense  of 
retirement  into  solitude  in  the  forest,  and  the  prac- 
tise there  of  austerity,  bodily  self-mortification, — 
not  at  all  with  the  idea  of  atonement  or  penance, 
but  under  the  impression  that  self-torture  of  this 
kind  would  bring  about  magical  results.  Just  as 
the  sacrificer  was  supposed,  by  a sort  of  charm  that 
his  priests  worked  for  him  in  the  sacrifice,  to  compel 
the  gods,  and  to  attain  ends  he  desired,  so  there 
was  supposed  to  be  a sort  of  charm  in  iapas  by 
which  a man  could,  through  and  by  himself,  attain 

■Hopkins,  Religions  of  India,  192. 

2 A llindische  neu-und  vollmondsopfer , Jena,  1879,  and  Ritual- 
literatur,  Vedische  Opfer  und  Zauber , Strasburg,  1897. 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  243 


to  mystic  and  marvellous  results.  The  distinction 
seems  to  have  been  that  it  was  rather  worldly  suc- 
cess, cattle,  children,  and  heaven,  that  were  attained 
by  sacrifice  ; and  mystic,  extraordinary,  superhuman 
faculties  that  were  attained  by  Tapas. 

Then,  by  a natural  anthropomorphism,  the  gods 
too,  in  later  works,  were  supposed — just  as  they  had 
been  supposed  to  offer  sacrifice — to  practise  tapas , 
austerity.  And  it  was  not  a mere  distinction  with- 
out a difference,  it  was  a real  advance  in  thought, 
when  this  sort  of  physical  self-mastery,  of  the  con- 
quest of  will  over  discomfort  and  pain,  came  to  be 
placed  above  sacrifice.  It  had  been  by  sacrifice  that 
the  gods  had  made  the  world.  Now  it  came  to  be 
said,  in  different  cosmological  legends,  that  one  god 
or  another  had  brought  forth  the  world  by  tapas.1 
And  a Brahmana  text  declares : 

“ Heaven  is  established  on  the  air,  the  air  on  the 
earth,  the  earth  on  the  waters,  the  waters  on  truth, 
the  truth  on  the  mystic  lore  (of  the  sacrifice),  and 
that  on  Tapas."  2 

It  will  be  noticed  that  tapas  is  here  put  in  the 
most  important  place,  higher  than  sacrifice,  which  is, 
in  its  turn,  higher  than  truth — a most  suggestive 
order,  as  we  shall  see  later  on.  We  have  no  details 
in  the  books  of  this  period  of  the  particular  prac- 
tices in  which  the  austerity,  the  self-mortification, 
consisted.  It  was  no  doubt  of  various  kinds,  and 
would  tend,  in  course  of  time,  to  be  elaborated. 
But  we  have  a full  statement  of  the  stage  it  had 

1 Satapatha-brahmana  vi.1.1.13,  and  often  afterwards. 

2 Aitareya  Br.  xi.  6.  4. 


244 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


reached  in  the  Buddha’s  time,  as  set  forth  by  a 
naked  ascetic  in  a Dialogue  he  had  with  Gotama.1 
This  professor  of  self-torture  enumerates  twenty-two 
methods  of  self-mortification  in  respect  of  food,  and 
thirteen  in  respect  of  clothing,  and  among  these  the 
ascetic  may  make  his  choice.  And  he  keeps  his 
body  under  in  other  ways: 

“ He  is  a ‘ plucker-out-of-hair-and-beard  ’ (destroying 
by  a painful  process  the  possibility  of  pride  in  mere 
beauty  of  appearance) — or  he  is  a ‘ stander-up  ’ (reject- 
ing the  use  of  a seat) — or  he  is  a croucher-down-on- 
the-heels  ’ (moving  about  painfully  by  jumps) — or  he  is 
a ‘ bed-of-thorns-man  ’ (putting  thorns  or  iron  spikes 
under  the  skin  on  which  he  sleeps) — or  he  sleeps  on  a 
plank,  or  on  the  bare  ground,  or  always  on  the  same 
side — or  he  is  ‘ clad-in-dust  ’ (smearing  his  naked  body 
with  oil  and  standing  where  dust  clouds  blow,  he  lets 
dust  and  dirt  adhere  to  his  body).” 

Later  on,  in  the  epic  for  instance,  the  list  grows 
longer,  the  penances  harder,  the  self-torture  more 
revolting.  But  from  this  time  onwards,  down  to 
quite  modern  times,  this  tapas , self-mortification,  is 
a permanent  idea  and  practice  in  the  religious  life 
of  India.  As  is  well  known  it  is  not  confined  to 
India.  Tennyson,  in  the  monologue  of  St.  Simeon 
Stylites,  has  given  us  a powerful  analysis  of  the  sort 
of  feelings  that  lay  at  the  root  of  this  superstition  in 
the  West.  But  the  theological  views  that  give  the 
tone  to  the  Christian  saint’s  self-revelation  are  very 


1 Rh.  D.  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , I.  pp.  226-232. 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  245 


different  from  those  we  find  in  India.  The  Indian 
way  of  looking  at  the  whole  conception  is  much 
more  akin  to  the  way  Diogenes  thought  when  he 
lived,  like  a dog,  in  his  tub-kennel.  The  Greek 
word  cynic  is  indeed  exactly  analogous  to  the  Indian 
expression  kukkura-vatiko , “ one  who  behaves  like  a 
dog,”  as  applied  (quite  courteously)  to  the  sophist, 
the  naked  ascetic,  Seniya.1  There  is  no  question 
here  of  penance  for  sin,  or  of  an  appeal  to  the 
mercy  of  an  offended  deity.  It  is  the  boast  of 
superiority  advanced  by  the  man  able,  through 
strength  of  will,  to  keep  his  body  under,  and  not 
only  to  despise  comfort,  but  to  welcome  pain.  By 
this  it  is  not,  of  course,  intended  to  imply  that  the 
Christian  did  not  advance  a similar  claim.  He  did. 
But  it  was,  in  his  case,  overshadowed  by  other  con- 
siderations which  are  absent  in  India. 

Both  in  the  East  and  the  West  the  claim  was 
often  accepted.  We  hear  a good  deal  in  India  of 
the  reverence  paid  to  the  man  who  (to  quote  the 
words  of  a Buddhist  poet), 

“ Bescorched,  befrozen,  lone  in  fearsome  woods, 
Naked,  without  a fire,  afire  within, 

Struggled  in  awful  silence  toward  the  goal  ! ” 2 

Simeon,  by  the  mere  strength  of  popular  acclaim, 
became  a saint,  even  almost  before  he  died. 
Diogenes,  and  his  parallel  in  India,  Mahavlra,  founded 
important  schools  which  have  left  their  mark  on  his- 
tory. And  ought  we,  after  all,  to  be  surprised  that 
those  who  despise  earthly  comfort,  and  subject  them- 

1 M.  1.  387.  3 M.  1.  79  = Jat.  1.  390. 


246 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


selves  to  voluntary  torture,  should  be  looked  upon, 
with  a kind  of  fearsome  awe,  as  more  holy,  as  better, 
than  other  men  ? There  was  some  justice  in  the 
view.  And  until  experience  had  shown  the  other 
side  of  the  question — -the  attendant  disadvantages, 
and  the  inadequate  results  of  strength  of  will  when 
applied  to  physical  ends — it  was  inevitable  that  the 
self-mastery  quite  evident  in  such  practices  should 
appeal  strongly  to  the  minds  of  the  people. 

We  find  the  other  side  put  forward  in  India  from 
two  directions,  one  mainly  philosophic,  the  other 
mainly  ethical.  The  manner  in  which  both  these 
movements  came  about  was  perfectly  natural,  though 
it  was  much  influenced  by  the  custom  already  re- 
ferred to  as  peculiar,  at  that  period  of  the  world’s 
history,  to  India.'  Students  are  often  represented 
as  begging,  just  as  students  did  in  Europe  in  the 
Middle  Ages.3  And  we  hear  of  sophists,  just  as  we 
do  in  the  history  of  Greek  thought.  But  the  pecu- 
liarity was  that,  before  the  rise  of  Buddhism,  it 
was  a prevalent  habit  for  wandering  teachers  also — 
and  not  only  students  — to  beg.  Such  wandering 
teachers,  who  were  not  necessarily  ascetics  except 
in  so  far  as  they  were  celibates,  are  always  repre- 
sented as  being  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  people. 
In  the  monarchies  the  royal  family,  in  the  clans  the 
community,  put  up  (as  we  have  seen  above)  public 
halls  where  such  Wanderers  (. Paribbajaka ) could 
lodge,  and  where  conversational  discussions,  open 
to  everyone,  were  held  on  philosophic  and  religious 

1 See  above,  Chapter  VIII. 

2 Sat.  Br.  xi.  3.  3.  5;  and  often  later  in  the  law-books. 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  247 


questions.1  The  career  of  such  a wandering  teacher 
seems  to  have  been  open  to  anyone,  and  even  to 
women.  And  the  most  perfect  freedom,  both  of 
thought  and  of  expression,  was  permitted  to  them 
— a freedom  probably  unequalled  in  the  history  of 
the  world. 

This  curious  state  of  things  would  only  have  been 
possible  among  people  of  a very  fair  degree  both  of 
average  general  intelligence  and  of  gentle  manners. 
And  just  as  the  Strolling  Students  in  pre-Reforma- 
tion  times  throughout  Western  Europe  were  both  a 
sign  of  the  coming  change,  and  also  helped  largely 
to  bring  it  about,  so  the  conditions  which  made  it 
possible  for  the  Wanderers  in  Northern  India  to 
live  as  they  did,  in  pursuit  of  what  they  thought  to 
be  truth,  were  the  precursors  of  that  movement  of 
thought  we  now  call  Buddhism,  which  the  Wan- 
derers also  so  largely  helped  to  bring  about. 

The  early  history  of  the  Wanderers  has  yet  to  be 
written.  We  hear  of  a similar  custom  as  already 
followed  in  one  isolated  case  by  a sacrificing  priest. 
Uddalaka  Aruni,  of  the  Gotama  family,  of  whom  so 
many  other  legends  have  been  preserved,  is  said  to 
have  wandered  about  the  country  offering  a gold 
coin,  as  a lure  for  the  timid,  to  anyone  who,  in  a 
disputation  on  spiritual  matters,  could  prove  him 
wrong.2  When  defeated  he  becomes  the  pupil  of 
his  conqueror. 

We  may  point  out,  in  passing,  that  these  “ spiritual 
matters  ” are  very  characteristic  of  the  Brahmanas. 

1 Rh.  D.  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , 1.  244;  and  above,  p.  141. 

2 Sat.  Br.  xi.  4.  1. 


248 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


When  he  is  being  defeated  the  problems  put  are  such 
as  this:  Why  are  creatures  born  without  teeth,  then 
teeth  grow,  and  when  the  creatures  become  old  then 
the  teeth  decay?  The  answer  of  his  opponent,  the 
orthodox  priest,  is:  The  preliminary  offerings  of  a 
sacrifice  have  no  formulas  of  invitation,  therefore 
creatures  are  born  without  teeth  (!).  The  chief  sac- 
rifice has,  therefore  teeth  grow  (!).  The  closing  acts 
in  the  sacrifice  have  no  such  formulas,  therefore 
in  old  age  teeth  decay  (!).  Other  explanations, 
equally  lucid  and  convincing,  are  given  for  the 
growth  and  decay  of  the  procreative  power, 
etc.  Such  are  the  deep  mysteries  Uddalaka  Aruni 
is  scoffed  at  (in  the  priestly  manual  which  has  pre- 
served this  interesting  old  story)  for  not  knowing. 

This  is  a foreshadowing  of  the  well-known  Bud- 
dhist story  of  the  woman  sophist  who  wandered  from 
village  to  village  offering  to  meet  all  the  world  in 
argument,  and  when  beaten  in  a disputation,  be- 
came the  pupil  of  her  Buddhist  conqueror.  In  the 
centuries  between  the  date  of  these  two  legends  the 
whole  system  had  grown  up.  But  unfortunately 
there  is  so  little  about  it  in  the  priestly  books  that 
it  is  not  easy  to  trace  its  progress. 

The  priests,  very  naturally,  did  not  like  the  gradu- 
ally  growing  esteem  in  which  a body  of  men  (and 
women)  were  held  who  despised  the  sacrifice,  the 
source  of  the  priests’  income  and  reputation.  But 
they  were  quite  helpless  in  the  matter.  The  sacri- 
fices the  priests  were  ready  to  offer  had  entirely  lost 
any  significance  they  may  have  once  possessed  as 
national  or  tribal  ceremonies.  They  were  now  merely 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  249 


magic  rites  performed  for  the  benefit  of  one  indi- 
vidual and  at  his  expense.  In  the  priestly  books  it 
is  taken  for  granted  that  every  one  entitled  to  do  so 
is  desirous  to  have  the  sacrifices  performed  for  him. 
In  actual  life  there  were  probably  many  who  gibed 
at  the  cost ; and  preferred,  if  they  wanted  magic, 
magic  of  other  and  cheaper  kinds.  In  any  case 
there  was  no  central  organisation  of  the  priesthood  ; 
there  were  no  permanent  temples  to  their  gods,  and 
such  sacred  shrines  as  the  people  could  frequent 
were  the  sacred  trees  or  other  objects  of  veneration 
belonging  to  the  worship  of  the  local  gods,  and 
quite  apart  from  the  cultus  or  the  influence  of  the 
priests. 

And  the  latter  were  divided  against  themselves. 
They  vied  with  one  another  for  sacrificial  fees.  The 
demand  for  their  services  was  insufficient  to  main- 
tain them  all.  Brahmins  followed  therefore  all  sorts 
of  other  occupations;  and  those  of  them  not  contin- 
ually busied  about  the  sacrifice  were  often  inclined 
to  views  of  life,  and  of  religion,  different  from  the 
views  of  those  who  were.  We  find  brahmins  rank- 
ing tapas , self-torture,  above  sacrifice.  We  find  brah- 
mins among  those  who  reckoned  insight  above 
either,  and  who,  whether  as  laymen  or  as  Wander- 
ers, joined  the  ranks  of  the  other  side.  Unable 
therefore,  whether  they  wanted  or  not,  to  stay  the 
progress  of  newer  ideas,  the  priests  strove  to  turn 
the  incoming  tide  into  channels  favorable  to  their 
Order.  They  formulated  — though  this  was  some 
time  after  the  rise  of  Buddhism — the  famous  theory 
of  the  As'ramas,  or  Efforts,  according  to  which  no 


250 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


one  could  become  either  a Hermit  or  a Wanderer 
without  having  first  passed  many  years  as  a student 
in  the  brahmin  schools,  and  lived  after  that  the  life 
of  a married  householder  as  regulated  in  the  brah- 
min law-books.  It  was  a bold  bid  for  supremacy. 
If  successful  it  might  have  put  a stop  to  the  whole 
movement.  But  it  remained  a dead  letter — prob- 
ably always,  certainly  during  the  period  we  are  here 
considering.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  priestly  man- 
uals, especially  those  later  than  the  Christian  era, 
take  it  as  a matter  of  course  that  the  rule  was  ob- 
served. But  they  do  not  give  us  the  actual  facts 
of  life  in  India.  They  give,  and  are  only  meant 
to  give,  what  the  priests  thought  the  facts  ought 
to  be.  And  there  is  ample  evidence  even  in  the 
priestly  literature  itself  of  a gradual  growth  in 
the  theory,  of  differing  views  about  it,  and  of  its 
loose  hold  on  the  people.  I have  elsewhere  col- 
lected the  evidence,  which  though  most  interesting, 
historically,  and  quite  conclusive,  is  too  long  to  set 
out  here.1 

In  the  second  place,  the  priests,  already  before 
the  rise  of  Buddhism,  had  (as  appendices  to  their 
sacred  books  on  the  sacrifice)  short  treatises  setting 
out,  as  the  highest  truth,  those  forms  of  speculation 
which  they  held  most  compatible  with  their  own 
mysteries.  Their  procedure,  in  this  respect,  was 
exactly  parallel  to  their  treatment  of  gods  not  in- 
cluded in  their  own  pantheon,  but  too  powerful  and 
popular  to  be  left  alone.  It  is  quite  evident,  from 
the  outcome  of  the  whole  movement,  that  there 

1 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  i,  pp.  2I2-2IQ. 


RELIGION— THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  25  I 


must  have  been  other  ideas  current  besides  those 
that  the  priests  thus  adapted  and  handed  down  in 
their  text-books.  And  we  have  valuable  evidence, 
in  the  lay  literature  of  a later  date,  as  to  what  these 
other  ideas  were,  so  that  in  this  respect  also,  as  in 
other  matters,  the  priestly  books  have  preserved  an 
invaluable,  but  still  only  a partial,  record. 

The  ideas  they  selected  are,  as  would  naturally  be 
expected,  those  based  on  the  same  animistic  notions 
as  underlay  their  own  views  of  the  sacrifice.  A 
soul  in  these  texts — the  pre-Buddhistic  Upanishads 
— is  supposed  to  exist  inside  each  human  body, 
and  to  be  the  sole  and  sufficient  explanation  of  life 
and  motion.  In  the  living  body,  in  its  ordinary 
state,  the  soul  dwells  in  a cavity  in  the  heart.1  It  is 
described  as  being  in  size  like  a grain  of  barley 
or  rice.2  It  is  only  in  later  speculation  that  it  grows 
to  be  of  the  size  of  the  thumb,  and  to  be  called 
therefore  “the  dwarf.”  3 In  shape  it  is  like  a man.4 
Its  appearance  was  evidently  found  difficult  to  por- 
tray, even  in  simile;  but  it  is  said  in  different  pas- 
sages to  be  like  smoke-coloured  wool,  like  cochineal, 
like  flame,  like  a white  lotus,  like  a flash  of  lightning, 
like  a light  without  smoke.  Beliefs  vary  as  to  what 
it  is  made  of.  One  passage  says  it  consists  of  con- 
sciousness, mind,  breath  ; eye  and  ears;  earth,  water, 
fire,  and  ether ; heat  and  no  heat ; desire  and  no 

1 Brhad.  iv.  3.  7,  v.  6 ; Chand.  viii.  3.  3;  Tait.  i.  6.  1.  Compare 
Katha,  ii.  20  ; iii.  1 ; iv.  6 ; vi.  17. 

4 Brhad.  v.  6 ; Chand.  iii.  14..  3 (this  idea  is  even  Vedic). 

3 Katha,  iv.  12,  13,  vi.  17  ; Svet.  iii.  13,  v.  8. 

4 Tait,  ii.  ; Brhad.  i.  41  ; Sat.  Br.  xiv.  4.  2.  1. 


252 


BUDDHIST  IXD/A 


desire;  anger  and  no  anger;  law  and  no  law — in  a 
word,  of  all  things.1 *  We  see  from  this  that  the  soul 
was  supposed  to  be  material — the  four  elements  of 
matter  are  there — but  selected  mental  qualities  are 
also  in  it.  In  another  curious  and  deeply  mystical 
old  text  the  elements  of  matter  come  first,  and  we 
are  told  of  five  souls,  each  inside  the  other,  each  the 
same  yet  different  from  the  one  outside  it,  each 
of  them  in  shape  as  a man,  and  made  respectively  of 
food,  breath,  mind,  consciousness,  and  joy. 

Certain  forms  of  disease  were  supposed  to  be  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  soul  had  escaped  out  of  the  body  ; 
and  charms  are  recorded  for  bringing  it  back.3  In 
dream  sleep  also  the  “soul  ” is  away  from  the  body. 
“ Therefore  they  say : Let  no  one  wake  a man 
brusquely  ; for  that  is  a matter  difficult  to  be  cured 
for  him  if  the  soul  find  not  its  way  back  to  him.”  3 
During  the  dream  the  soul,  after  leaving  the  body, 
wanders  at  its  will,  builds  up  a world  according  to  its 
fancy,  creates  for  itself  chariots  and  houses,  lakes 
and  rivers,  manifold  shapes,  a gorgeous  playground 
wherein  it  acts  and  enjoys  and  suffers,  “either  re- 
joicing with  women,  or  laughing  with  its  friends,  or 
beholding  horrible  sights.”  Till  at  last,  tired  out, — 
just  as  a falcon  after  roaming  hither  and  thither 
in  the  sky,  tired,  flaps  its  wings  and  is  wafted  to  its 
nest, — so  the  soul  returns  from  that  playground  of 
his  to  the  body,  when  in  deep,  fast  sleep  it  wants  no 

1 Brhad.  iv.  4.  5.  See  also  iii.  7.  14-22. 

s Atharva  Veda,  v.  29.  5 ; vi.  53.  2 ; vii.  67.  Compare  Ait.  Ar. 
iii.  2.  4.  7. 

3 Brhad.  iv.  3.  14. 


RELIGION— THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  253 


more,  and  dreams  no  more.1  It  is  a charming  and 
beautiful  picture. 

Such  dreams  are  premonitions  of  good  luck  or  the 
reverse,  which  gave  rise,  in  India  then,  as  throughout 
the  world  in  similar  stages  of  culture,  to  many  foolish 
fancies. 

When  the  soul  has  come  back  to  the  body,  which 
remains  recumbent  in  dreamless  sleep,  the  soul  per- 
vades the  whole  of  it,  down  to  the  tips  of  the  hair 
and  nails,  by  means  of  seventy-two  thousand  arteries 
called  Hita  (the  Good).  And  oddly  enough  it  is 
precisely  then  that  the  soul  is  supposed  to  obtain 
light.2 

We  are  not  told  how  the  soul  gets  out  of,  and  back 
into,  the  body.  This  is  not  surprising,  for  the  opin- 
ions expressed  as  to  how  the  soul  got  into  its  first 
body — whether  at  conception  or  at  quickening  or  at 
birth — are  contradictory.  All  views  on  this  point 
were  no  doubt  neither  more  nor  less  hazy  then  in 
India  than  they  are  now  in  the  West.  There  are 
passages  which  suppose  the  soul  to  have  existed, 
before  birth,  in  some  other  body3;  and  other  pas- 
sages which  suppose  it  to  have  been  inserted,  at  the 
origin  of  things,  into  its  first  body  downwrards, 
through  the  suture  at  the  top  of  the  skull,  into  the 
heart.4  But  there  is  a passage  which  affirms  that 
the  soul  was  inserted  upwards,  through  the  intes- 
tines and  the  belly,  into  the  head.  And  we  find  a 

1 Brhad.  iv.  3 ; Chand.  viii.  12.  3. 

2 Brhad.  ii.  1.  19,  iv.  3.  20  ; Chand.  viii.  6.  3 ; Kaus.  iv.  19. 

3 Brhad.  iii.  2.  13  ; iv.  4.  6.  Compare  vi.  4,  and  Ait.  Ar.  ii.  3.  2. 

4 Tait.  i.  6.  i ; Ait.  iii.  12. 


254 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


curious  speculation,  of  which  there  are  three  variants, 
on  the  transfer  of  the  soul  by  generation,  through 
the  seed. 

One  of  these  is  the  theory  that  certain  human 
souls,  on  going  to  the  moon,  become  food  to  the 
gods  there,  and  are  thus  united  to  the  gods  as  a con- 
sequence of  their  good  deeds.  When  the  efficacy 
of  their  good  deeds  is  exhausted,  they  pass  from  the 
gods  to  the  ether,  from  the  ether  into  the  air,  from 
the  air  into  the  rain,  from  the  rain  on  to  the  earth, 
from  the  earth  into  plants  which  become  food  to 
males,  and  from  the  males  they  pass  into  females.1 * 3 4 

At  the  death  of  an  ordinary  man  the  top  part  of 
the  heart  becomes  lighted  up,  and  the  soul,  guided 
by  that  light,  departs  from  the  heart  into  the  eye, 
and  through  the  eye  to  some  other  body,  exalted  or 
not,  according  to  the  deeds  the  man  has  done  in 
that  body  the  soul  is  now  leaving.  But  the  soul  of 
the  man  whose  cravings  have  ceased  goes,  through 
the  suture  of  the  skull  (at  the  top  of  the  head),  to 
Brahman.5  In  each  case  there  are  many  stopping- 
places  on  the  way,*  but  the  theories  differ  both  about 
these  and  about  other  details.  I have  discussed 
these  points  elsewhere/  And  a careful  search  would 
no  doubt  reveal  passages  even  in  other  parts  of  the 
priestly  literature  acknowledging  views  which  do 

1 Brhad.  vi.  2.  16  ; vi.  3.  13.  Comp.  Kaus.  i.  2 ; Ait.  ii.  1-4  ; 
Ait.  Ar.  iii.  2.  2.  4. 

s Brhad.  iv.  4 ; Kaus.  iii.  3 ; Chand.  vii.  6.  6 ; Tait.  i.  6.  1. 

3 Brhad.  vi.  2 ; Chand.  iv.  15  and  v.  9. 

4 Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  1.  iSS,  242  ; Journal  of  the  Royal 

Asiatic  Society,  1S99,  pp.  79,  foil. 


RELIGION — THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  255 


not  happen  to  be  referred  to  in  the  older  Upan- 
ishads,  but  which  bear  the  stamp  of  great  antiquity 
— such  passages  as  Maha-bharata,  xii.  1 1.  704,  where 
we  are  told  that  if,  as  the  dying  man  draws  up  his 
knees,  the  soul  goes  out  of  him  by  way  of  the  knees, 
then  it  goes  to  the  Sadhyas. 

But  there  is  an  almost  entire  unanimity  of  opinion 
in  these  Upanishads  that  the  soul  will  not  obtain 
release  from  rebirth  either  by  the  performance  of 
sacrifice  in  this  birth  or  by  the  practice  of  penance. 
It  must  be  by  a sort  of  theosophic  or  animistic 
insight,  by  the  perception,  the  absolute  knowledge 
and  certainty,  that  one’s  own  soul  is  identical  with 
the  Great  Soul,  the  only  permanent  reality,  the  ulti- 
mate basis  and  cause  of  all  phenomena. 

The  ideas  had  therefore  just  made,  at  the  time 
when  our  history  begins,  a complete  circle.  The 
hypothesis  of  a soul — a material,  but  very  subtle 
sort  of  homunculus  within  the  body — had  been 
started  to  explain  the  life  and  motion,  sleep  and 
death,  of  human  beings.  By  analogy,  logically 
enough,  it  had  been  extended,  ever  more  and  more 
widely,  to  explain  similar  phenomena  in  the  outside 
world.  There  must  be  a soul  in  the  sun.  How 
else  could  one  explain  its  majestic  march  across  the 
heavens,  evidently  purposeful,  its  rising  and  its  set- 
ting, its  beauty  and  light  and  glow?  If  its  action 
was  somewhat  mysterious,  who  was  to  limit  or  de- 
fine the  motives  of  the  soul  of  so  glorious  a creature  ? 
There  was  no  argument  about  it.  It  was  taken  for 
granted  ; and  any  one  who  doubted  was  simply  im- 
pious. These  souls  in  nature  — gods  they  called 


256 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


them  — had,  of  course,  no  existence  outside  the 
brains  of  the  men  who  made  them.  They  were 
logical  corollaries  of  the  human  soul.  And  the  ex- 
ternal souls,  the  gods,  were  therefore  identical  in 
origin  and  nature  with  the  souls  supposed  to  live  in- 
side human  bodies.  But  the  very  men  who  made 
these  external  souls,  the  gods,  looked  upon  them  as 
objective  realities,  quite  different  from  their  own 
souls.  They — the  gods — were  always  changing — 
that  is  to  say,  men’s  ideas  about  them  were  always 
changing,  moving,  being  modified.  The  long  history 
of  Indian  mythology  is  the  history  of  such  changes, 
by  no  means  always  dependent  on  theological  reas- 
ons.1 And  with  each  change  the  objective  reality  of 
the  external  souls,  the  gods,  their  difference  from  the 
souls  of  men,  seemed  more  clear  and  certain  than 
ever. 

Then  came  the  reaction.  The  gods  began,  not  in 
popular  belief,  but  among  thinkers,  to  be  more  and 
more  regarded  as  identical  one  with  the  other  until 
at  last,  just  before  Buddhism,  the  hypothesis  was 
started  of  a one  primeval  soul,  the  world-soul,  the 
Highest  soul,  the  Paramatman,  from  whom  all  the 
other  gods  and  souls  had  proceeded.  There  was  a 
deep  truth  in  this  daring  speculation.  But  the  souls 
inside  men  were  held  in  it  to  be  identical  with  god, 
the  only  original  and  true  reality  ; whereas,  histori- 
cally speaking,  soul  was  the  original  idea,  and  the 
gods  (and  god)  had  grown  out  of  it. 

We  have  abundant  evidence  that  this  grand  gen- 
eralisation was  neither  due  to  the  priests  wrho 

1 See  American  Lectures , pp  12-14. 


RELIGION— THE  BRAHMIN  POSITION  257 

adopted  it,  nor  had  its  origin  in  the  priestly  schools. 
Precisely  as  regards  the  highest  point  of  the  general- 
isation, the  very  keystone  of  the  arch,  the  priestly 
literature  has  preserved  the  names  of  the  rajput  lay- 
men who  thought  it  out  and  taught  it  to  the  priests. 
And  among  the  priests  who  had  the  greatest  share 
in  adopting  it,  in  procuring  admission  for  it  into 
their  sacred  books,  is  mentioned  the  very  Uddalaka 
Aruni,  the  Gotama,  whose  defeat  in  argument  on 
“ spiritual  matters  ” has  been  recorded  above. 

When  this  point  had  been  reached,  speculation  on 
the  basis  of  the  soul  theory  could  go  no  further. 
The  only  modification  possible  was  in  the  ideas  as 
to  the  nature  and  qualities  of  the  souls,  internal  and 
external,  and  as  to  the  relations  between  them. 
And  to  this  point  speculation  reached,  but  later,  and 
less  clearly,  in  China  also,  and  in  Greece.  But  it 
was  in  India,  and  in  India  only,  that  the  further 
step  was  taken,  by  Gotama  the  rajput  and  his  dis- 
ciples, to  abandon  the  soul  theory  altogether  ; and 
to  build  up  a new  philosophy  (whether  right  or 
wrong  is  not  here  the  question)  on  other  considera- 
tions in  which  soul  or  souls  played  no  part  at  all. 

That  this  thoroughgoing  and  far-reaching  step 

was  taken  by  laymen  should  not  surprise  us.  To 

suppose  that  the  Indians  were  more  superstitious  at 

that  time  than  other  folk,  more  under  the  thumb  of 

their  priests,  is  to  misunderstand  the  evidence.  On 

the  contrary  there  was  a well-marked  lay  feeling,  a 

real  sense  of  humour,  a strong  fund  of  common-sense, 

a wide-spread  feeling,  in  all  such  matters,  of  courtesy 

and  liberality.  How  otherwise  can  we  explain  the 
17 


258 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


fact,  already  pointed  out,  of  the  most  complete  and 
unquestioned  freedom,  both  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion, which  the  world  had  yet  witnessed  ? 

We  shall  probably  be  ignoring  an  important  factor 
in  the  history  of  the  time  if  we  omit  to  notice 
that  this  state  of  things  was  due,  in  great  part,  to 
the  very  easy  and  simple  economic  conditions  of 
those  days. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


CHANDRAGUPTA 


E have  sketched  in  the  opening  chapters  the 


political  divisions  of  India  at  the  time  of 


the  rise  of  Buddhism.  We  know,  whether  from 
native  or  foreign  sources,  very  little  of  what  hap- 
pened during  the  century  and  a half  that  followed 
after  the  Buddha’s  death.  When  the  curtain  rises 
again  it  shows  considerable  changes  in  the  picture. 
But  the  new  picture  is  in  harmony  with  the  old  ; the 
principal  figures  and  most  of  the  minor  ones  are  the 
same  ; and  the  changes  in  their  position  can  be  fairly 
understood  in  the  light  of  their  previous  relations. 

In  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  the 
paramount  power  was  the  great  kingdom  of  Kosala, 
then  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity,  under  Pasenadi’s 
father,  the  Great  Kosalan  (Mahakosala),  whose  do- 
minions extended  from  the  mountains  to  the  Ganges, 
and  from  the  Kosala  and  Ramaganga  rivers  on  the 
west  to  the  Gandak  on  the  east.  West  and  south  of 
it  a number  of  small  kingdoms  maintained  their  inde- 
pendence. Eastward  Kosala  had  already  extended 
its  suzerainty  over  the  Sakiyas ; but  was  stopped  in 


26o 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


its  further  advance  by  the  powerful  confederation  of 
the  Licchavis.  South  of  these,  again,  a death-struggle 
was  going  on  between  the  two  smaller  kingdoms  of 
Magadha  and  Champa.  This  was  decided  in  the 
time  of  the  Buddha’s  boyhood  by  the  final  victory 
of  Magadha.  And  the  rising  of  this  new  star  in  the 
extreme  south-east  was  the  most  interesting  factor 
in  the  older  picture. 

The  new  picture,  as  shown  to  us  in  the  Ceylon 
Chronicles  and  in  the  Greek  accounts  of  India,  espe- 
cially in  those  fragments  that  have  survived  of  the 
Indika  of  Megasthenes  (300  B.C.),  shows  us  Magadha 
triumphant.  The  free  clans  and  the  great  kingdom 
of  Kosala  have  been  absorbed  by  it.  One  by  one 
the  kingdoms  to  the  south  and  west  of  what  had 
been  Kosala  have  acknowledged  its  supremacy.  In 
distant  Punjab  and  Ujjen  viceroys  from  Magadha 
administer  the  government.  And  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  India  there  is  one  authority  from 
Afghanistan  across  the  continent  eastward  to  Ben- 
gal, and  from  the  Himalayas  down  to  the  central 
Provinces. 

We  shall  probably  never  know — unless  the  ancient 
sites  in  India  shall  one  day,  like  those  in  Assyria 
and  Egypt,  be  excavated  and  explored— how  these 
great  changes  came  actually  to  be  brought  about. 
But  the  two  sets  of  authorities  just  referred  to 
(which  are  quite  independent  one  of  another,  and 
yet  confirm  one  another  in  the  most  important  mat- 
ters) are  conclusive  evidence  that  the  changes  had 
actually  taken  place. 

Taken  separately,  each  of  these  authorities  is 


CHA  NDRA  G UP  TA 


26l 


open  to  serious  objections.  The  Chronicles  have 
all  the  advantages,  but  also  all  the  disadvantages, 
that  belong  to  chronicles  written  by  monks,  whether 
in  the  East  or  the  West.  And  the  Greek  accounts 
are  in  various  ways  rendered  less  useful  than  they 
might  otherwise  have  been. 

The  work  of  Megasthenes  has  been  lost.  The 
fragments  that  survive  in  quotations  by  later  authors 
have  been  collected  by  Schwanbeck,  and  translated 
in  Mr.  McCrindle’s  excellent  work,  Ancient  India. 
Where  what  is  evidently  intended  to  be  a quotation 
from  the  same  paragraph  of  Megasthenes  is  found 
in  more  than  one  of  the  later  Greek  authors,  the 
various  presentations  of  it  do  not,  in  several  cases, 
agree.  This  makes  it  certain  that  these  quotations 
do  not  always  give  the  exact  words  of  Megasthenes, 
and  throws  considerable  doubt  on  the  correctness  of 
those  quotations  which,  being  found  in  one  author 
only,  cannot  be  so  tested.  A number  of  these  quota- 
tions contain  statements  that  are  glaringly  absurd — 
accounts  of  gold-digging  ants,  men  with  ears  large 
enough  to  sleep  in,  men  without  any  mouths,  with- 
out noses,  with  only  one  eye,  with  spider  legs,  or 
with  fingers  turning  backwards.  Strabo  calls  these 
stories  mendacious.  But  they  are  evidence,  rather, 
of  the  small  amount  of  critical  judgment  possessed 
by  Megasthenes;  and  also,  be  it  said,  by  the  other 
Greek  writers  who  chose  precisely  these  foolish 
puerilities  as  the  portions  of  Megasthenes  they 
thought  it  important  to  repeat.  There  remain  a 
few  pages  which,  when  the  mistakes  have  been  cor- 
rected, afford  a residuum  of  sober  information,  all  of 


262 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


it  interesting,  and  some  of  it  not  found  elsewhere. 
Perhaps  the  most  important  is  the  all-too-short  de- 
scription of  Pataliputta,  the  capital  of  Magadha,  at 
which  Megasthenes  resided. 

“The  greatest  city  in  India  is  that  which  is  called 
Palimbolhra,  in  the  dominions  of  the  Prasians,  where  the 
streams  of  the  Erannoboas  [this  a Greek  corruption 
of  Hirannavati]  and  the  Ganges  unite.  . . . Megas- 

thenes informs  us  that  this  city  stretched  in  the  inhabited 
quarters  to  an  extreme  length  on  each  side  of  80  stadia 
[nearly  10  miles],  and  that  its  breadth  was  fifteen  stadia 
[nearly  2 miles],  and  that  a ditch  encompassed  it  all 
round,  600  feet  in  breadth  and  30  cubits  in  depth,  and 
that  the  wall  was  crowned  with  570  towers  and  four-and- 
sixty  gates.  The  same  writer  tells  us  this  remarkable 
fact  about  India,  that  all  the  Indians  are  free,  and  that 
not  one  of  them  is  a slave.”  1 

These  particulars  about  the  size  and  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Pataliputta  in  300  B.C.  are  new;  and  are,  no 
doubt,  also  true.  The  number  of  towers  allows  one 
to  every  seventy-five  yards,  so  that  archers,  in  the 
towers,  could  cover  the  space  intervening  between 
any  two.  The  number  of  gates  would  allow  one  to 
each  660  yards,  which  is  quite  a probable  and  con- 
venient distance.  The  extent  of  the  fortifications  is 
indeed  prodigious.  Ten  miles,  along  the  river,  is  just 
the  distance  from  the  Tower  of  London  to  Hammer- 
smith Bridge;  or,  if  taken  in  a straight  line,  is  the 
distance  from  Greenwich  to  Richmond  ; and  from 
the  river  at  the  Chelsea  Embankment  to  the  Marble 
Arch  is  just  two  miles,  south  to  north.  All  of 

1 Arrian,  Ind.,  ch.  x. 


CHANDRAGUPTA 


263 


London  from  the  Tower  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
and  from  the  river  to  the  Hampstead  Hills,  would 
occupy  about  the  same  space.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  native  records  confirm  the  impression  that  then, 
as  now,  Indian  towns  tended  to  cover  a vast  extent. 
And  we  may  probably  accept  the  estimate  made  by 
Megasthenes  of  the  size  of  the  city  wherein  he  dwelt. 

The  statement  about  slavery  is  odd.  The  distinct 
and  unanimous  testimony  of  all  the  Indian  evidence 
is  decisive  that  the  status  of  slavery  was  then  an 
actual  factor  of  Indian  life,  though  not  a very  im- 
portant one.  When  the  Greek  writer  states,  so 
emphatically,  the  contrary,  one  can  only  say  that 
he  is  mistaken  in  the  main  fact,  and  that  his  evidence 
only  shows  how  very  little  the  sort  of  slavery  then 
existing  in  India  would  strike  a foreigner  accustomed 
to  the  sort  of  slavery  then  existing  in  Greece. 

Then  Megasthenes  says  that  the  population  of 
India  was  divided  into  seven  classes  as  follows: 

1.  Philosophers. 

2.  Husbandmen. 

3.  Herdsmen. 

4.  Artisans. 

5.  Soldiers. 

6.  Spies. 

7.  Councillors. 

“No  one  is  allowed  to  marry  out  of  his  own  class, 
or  to  exercise  any  calling  or  art  except  his  own.1  A 

1 Strabo,  xv.  49,  has  in  place  of  this  last  clause,  “or  to  exchange 
one  profession  for  another,  or  to  follow  more  than  one  business.  An 
exception  is  made  in  favour  of  the  philosopher,  who  for  his  virtue  is 
allowed  this  privilege.” 


264 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


soldier,  for  instance,  cannot  become  a husbandman, 
or  an  artisan  a philosopher.”  1 

Here  again  Megasthenes  is  inaccurate.  There 
were  customs  of  endogamy  and  exogamy,  and  of  a 
man  following  his  father’s  trade  ; but  not  those  that 
he  specifies.  He  has  got  his  classes  all  wrong. 
There  were  many  others  he  does  not  mention  ; and 
those  he  does  did  not  form  real  groups,  either  accord- 
ing to  the  marriage  customs  of  India,  or  according  to 
the  habits  of  the  people  as  to  occupation.  The  true 
account  of  the  matter  has  been  given  above  at  page 
55.  It  is  precisely  in  the  details  of  such  a subject 
that  a foreigner,  especially  if  he  could  not  speak  the 
language,  is  likely  to  have  gone  astray.  With  the 
official  life,  on  the  other  hand,  he  would  probably  be 
better  acquainted.  And  this  is  what  Megasthenes 
says  on  that  point : 

“ Of  the  great  officers  of  state  some  have  charge  of  the 
market,  others  of  the  city,  others  of  the  soldiers.  Some 
superintend  the  rivers  [canals  ?], — measuring  the  land  as 
is  done  in  Egypt, — and  inspect  the  sluices  by  which 
water  is  let  out  from  the  main  canals  into  their  branches, 
so  that  every  one  may  have  an  equal  supply  of  it. 

“ The  same  persons  have  charge  also  of  the  huntsmen 
[surely  only  the  royal  huntsmen],  and  are  entrusted  with 
the  power  of  rewarding  or  punishing  them  according  to 
their  deserts. 

“ They  collect  the  taxes,  and  superintend  the  occupa- 
tions connected  with  land  [that  is,  no  doubt,  look  after 
the  royal  dues  arising  out  of  them],  as  those  of  woodcut- 
ters, carpenters,  blacksmiths,  and  miners.  They  con- 

1 Diodorus  Siculus,  iii.  63. 


CM  A N DR  A GUPTA  265 

struct  roads,  and  at  every  ten  stadia  set  up  a pillar  to 
show  the  byroads  and  distances.' 

“ Those  who  have  charge  of  the  city  are  divided  into 
six  bodies  of  five  each.  The  members  of  the  first  look 
after  everything  related  to  the  industrial  arts. 

“Those  of  the  second  look  after  the  entertainment  of 
foreigners.  To  these  they  assign  lodgings  ; and  they 
keep  watch  over  their  modes  of  life  by  means  of  those 
persons  whom  they  give  to  them  as  servants.  They 
escort  them  on  the  way  when  they  leave  the  country; 
or,  in  the  event  of  their  dying,  they  forward  their  pro- 
perty to  their  relatives.  They  take  care  of  them  when 
they  are  sick,  and,  if  they  die,  bury  them. 

“ The  third  body  consists  of  those  who  inquire  when 
and  how  births  and  deaths  occur,  with  a view  not  only  of 
levying  a tax,  but  also  in  order  that  births  and  deaths 
among  high  and  low  may  not  escape  the  cognisance  of 
Government. 

“ The  fourth  class  superintends  trade  and  commerce. 
Its  members  have  charge  of  weights  and  measures, 
and  see  that  the  products,  in  their  season,  are  sold  by 
public  notice.1 2  No  one  is  allowed  to  deal  in  more  than 
one  kind  of  commodity  unless  he  pays  a double  tax. 

“The  fifth  class  supervises  manufactured  articles, 
which  they  sell  by  public  notice.  What  is  new  is  sold 
separately  from  what  is  old;  there  is  a fine  for  mixing  the 
two  together. 

“ The  sixth  and  last  class  consists  of  those  who  col- 

1 Ten  stadia  is  2022^  yards.  This  is,  within  a few  yards,  the  sixth 
part  of  a yojana,  the  common  Indian  measure  of  length  at  that  time. 

2 This  is  very  obscure.  The  words  seem  to  imply  either  that  sale 
was  usually  not  by  private  barter,  but  by  auction,  or  that  sales  took 
place  through  advertisement.  Neither  of  these  statements  would  be 
correct.  See  Chapter  VI.  on  economic  conditions. 


266 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


lect  the  tenths  of  the  prices  of  the  articles  sold.  Fraud 
in  the  payment  of  this  tax  is  punished  with  death.” 

There  follows  in  the  quotations  a superficial  ac- 
count of  the  organisation  of  the  army  which  is 
scarcely  worth  quoting.  But  the  figures  given  are 
interesting:  “The  king  [of  the  Palibothri]  has  in  his 
pay  a standing  army  of  60,000  foot  soldiers,  30,000 
cavalry,  and  8000  elephants;  whence  may  be  formed 
some  conjecture  as  to  the  vastness  of  his  resources.” 
Pliny,  in  what  is  evidently  an  echo  of  the  same 
paragraph,  gives  the  numbers  as  600,000,  30,000, 
and  9000.  But  the  first  of  these  is  clearly  a mis- 
take, and  very  probably  only  a copyist’s  error.'  The 
same  writer  has  preserved  a tradition  as  to  the  num- 
bers of  the  armies  of  other  Indian  kings  at  the  same 
period.  It  is,  no  doubt,  derived  from  Megasthenes, 
and  the  numbers  as  follows: 

Kalinga,  60,000  foot,  10,000  horse,  700  elephants. 

Talukta,  50,000  “ 4,000  “ 700 

Andhra,  100,000  “ 2,000  “ 1,000 

It  will  be  noticed  that  with  a curious  equality  in 
infantry,  the  forces  of  Magadha  show  a great  super- 
iority in  cavalry,  and  in  elephants-of-war.  This  is 
probably  correct,  as  the  unanimous  testimony  of 
the  Indian  records  ascribes  the  pre-eminence  in  the 
training  of  horses  to  the  districts  in  the  extreme 
north  and  west,  which  then  belonged  to  Magadha, 
and  the  pre-eminence  in  the  training  of  elephants 
to  the  east,  which  is  precisely  Magadha.  This  use 
1 Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  vi.  21.  9-23.  See  the  statement  below. 


CHA  NDRA  G UP  TA 


267 


of  elephants  in  war,  I may  observe  in  passing,  may 
have  been  an  important  factor  in  the  gradual  rise  of 
Magadha  to  the  supreme  power. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  a very  serious  error  to 
regard  Chandragupta  as  the  founder  of  this  suprem- 
acy of  Magadha.  When  Alexander  invaded  the 
north-west  of  India  he  was  informed  that  the  then 
emperor  at  Magadha  (who  must  have  been  Dhana 
Nanda,  the  predecessor  of  Chandragupta)  had  an 
army  of  200,000  foot,  20,000  cavalry,  2COO  war-chari- 
ots, and  4000  elephants-of-war.1  It  had  certainly 
then  already  absorbed  Kosala,  and  probably  also 
other  kingdoms  to  the  south  and  west  of  Kosala. 
Chandragupta  added  the  Panjab  and  the  provinces 
along  the  Indus  down  to  its  mouth.  It  was  from 
the  Panjab  that  he,  favoured  by  the  disorder  result- 
ing from  Alexander’s  invasion,  recruited  the  nucleus 
of  the  force  with  which  he  besieged  and  conquered 
Dhana  Nanda.  Whether  the  southern  Indus  pro- 
vinces were  then  also  under  his  sway  we  do  not  know, 
but  Pliny,  doubtless  referring  to  his  time,  says  that 
the  Magadha  empire  extended  right  up  to  the  river.2 
He  may  have  subdued  them  afterwards,  at  the  same 
time  as  he  conquered  the  peninsula  of  Gujarat, 
where,  as  we  learn  from  Rudra-daman’s  inscription, 
a viceroy  of  his  was  in  possession.  The  ancient 
kingdom  of  Avanti,  with  its  capital  Ujjeni,  had 
probably,  before  his  time,  been  already  incorporated 
into  the  Empire. 

Chandragupta  thus  found  himself  strong  enough 

1 Diod.  xvii.  93  ; Curtius,  ix.  2 ; Plutarch,  Alex.  62, 

^ Hist.  Nat.  vi.  22.  5. 


268 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


to  withstand  even  the  Greeks.  At  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century  B.C.  Seleukos  Nikator,  then  at  the 
height  of  his  power,  attempted  to  rival  Alexander 
by  invading  India.  But  he  met  with  a very  different 
foe.  Alexander  found  a succession  of  small  king- 
doms and  republics,  whose  mutual  jealousies  more 
than  counterbalanced  the  striking  bravery  of  their 
forces,  and  enabled  him  to  attack  and  defeat  them 
one  by  one.  Seleukos  found  the  consolidated  and 
organised  empire  of  Magadha,  against  which  all  his 
efforts  were  in  vain.  After  an  unsuccessful  campaign 
he  was  glad  to  escape  by  ceding  all  his  provinces 
west  of  the  Indus,  including  Gedrosia  and  Arachosia 
(about  equal  to  the  Afghanistan  of  to-day),  and  by 
giving  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  victorious 
Emperor  of  India  in  exchange  for  five  hundred 
elephants-of-war. 

It  was  then  that  Megasthenes  was  sent  as  ambassa- 
dor to  Pataliputta.  And  with  the  princess  and  her 
suite,  and  the  ambassador  and  his,  not  to  speak  of  the 
Greek  artists  and  artisans  employed  at  the  court, 
there  must  have  been  quite  a considerable  Greek 
community,  about  300  B.C.,  at  the  distant  city  on  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Ganges,  whose  foundations,  as 
a mere  fort,  were  being  laid  by  the  brahmin  minister 
of  the  then  king  of  Magadha,  when  the  great  Ind- 
ian Teacher  was  starting  on  his  last  journey  a few 
months  before  his  death.  But  the  Greek  commun- 
ity cared  little  for  these  things ; and,  so  far  as  we 
know,  Megasthenes,  in  his  account  of  India,  has  not 
a word  about  the  Buddha  or  his  system. 

The  deep  impression  made  by  Chandragupta’s 


CHA  NDRA  G UP  TA 


269 


marvellous  career,  in  which  he  worked  his  way  up 
from  the  position  of  a robber  chief  on  the  frontier  to 
the  mightiest  throne  then  existing  in  the  world,  is 
reflected  in  the  legendary  nature  of  all  the  accounts 
that  have  reached  us — Greek,  Buddhist,  and  Hindu. 
He  has  suffered  the  fate  of  other  great  conquerors 
and  rulers ; and  like  Alexander  and  Charlemagne, 
has  become  the  hero  of  popular  romance. 

The  reader  will  recollect  how  such  popular  romance 
has  woven  a story  about  our  King  Alfred  the  Great, 
when  a defeated  refugee,  and  a peasant  woman  and 
her  cakes.  Just  such  an  anecdote  has  been  told  of 
Chandragupta  in  the  commentary  on  the  Great 
Chronicle  of  Ceylon : 

“In  one  of  these  villages  a woman  [by  whose  hearth 
Chandragupta  had  taken  refuge]  baked  a chupatty  1 and 
gave  it  to  her  child.  He,  leaving  the  edges,  ate  only  the 
centre,  and,  throwing  the  edges  away,  asked  for  another 
cake.  Then  she  said,  ‘ This  boy’s  conduct  is  like 
Chandagutta’s  attack  on  the  kingdom.’  The  boy 
said,  ‘ Why,  Mother,  what  am  I doing,  and  what  has 
Chandagutta  done  ? ’ ‘ Thou,  my  dear,’  said  she, 

‘ throwing  away  the  outside  of  the  cake,  eatest  the 
middle  only.  So  Chandagutta,  in  his  ambition  to  be  a 
monarch,  without  beginning  from  the  frontiers,  and  tak- 
ing the  towns  in  order  as  he  passed,  has  invaded  the 
heart  of  the  country  . . . and  his  army  is  surrounded 
and  destroyed.  That  was  his  folly.’  ” 2 

And  Chandragupta  overheard,  and  learnt  the 

1 Literally  “ a frying-pan-cake,”  (kapalla pfiva).  See  Jat.  I.  345-7. 

5 Mahavamsa  Tika,  p.  123  (Colombo  edition,  1895). 


270 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


lesson,  and  prospered.  So  also  the  future  sovereign 
is  made  to  owe  his  success,  throughout  the  long 
series  of  adventures,  defeats,  and  victories,  of  in- 
trigues, murders,  and  treasons,  which  led  him  to  the 
throne,  to  the  constant  advice  and  aid  of  a brahmin, 
nicknamed  Chanakya,  as  deformed  in  body  as  he 
was  depraved  at  heart  (or,  perhaps,  we  should  rather 
say  that  he  was,  like  the  gods,  not  so  much  immoral 
as  unmoral).  Justin  (xv.  4),  on  Greek  authority, 
tells  two  graceful  stories  of  the  effect  upon  animals 
of  the  marvellous  nature  of  the  king.  Once,  when, 
as  a fugitive  from  his  foes,  he  lay  down  overtaken, 
not  by  them,  but  by  sleep,  a mighty  lion  came  and 
ministered  to  him  by  licking  his  exhausted  frame. 
And  again,  when  he  had  collected  a band  of  follow- 
ers, and  went  forth  once  more  to  the  attack,  a wild 
elephant  came  out  of  the  jungle,  and  bent  low  to 
receive  Chandragupta  on  his  back. 

It  is  curious  that  in  the  extant  priestly  literature 
Chandragupta  is  completely  ignored  for  about  ten 
centuries.  In  spite  of  his  friendship  with  the  brah- 
min Chanakya,  he  belonged  to,  and  indeed  had  the 
insolence  to  found,  the  hated  Moriya  dynasty,  to 
which,  later  on,  Buddhism  owed  so  much.  But  the 
memory  of  him,  or  at  least  of  the  popular  romance 
attached  to  him,  must  have  been  kept  very  much 
alive  among  the  peoples  of  India.  For  in  the  eighth 
century  of  our  era,  a layman,  the  author  of  a famous 
Sanskrit  drama,  the  Mudra-rakshasa,  takes  that  ro- 
mance as  his  plot.  He  gives  a number  of  details  out 
of  which  Lassen  already,  half  a century  ago,  tried, 
with  the  help  of  other  traditions,  to  unravel  the 


C//A  N DR  A G UP  TA 


271 


nucleus  of  historic  fact.1  He  succeeded  very  well  in 
doing  so,  but  perhaps  the  most  suggestive  fact  we 
may  learn  from  the  play  is,  that  in  spite  of  the  brah- 
mins, the  memory  of  Chandragupta  had  survived,  in 
the  people’s  hearts,  all  through  that  long  interval  of 
priestly  silence  — another  proof,  if  any  were  needed, 
that  it  is  not  very  wise  to  trust  altogether  exclusively 
to  brahmin  evidence. 

1 Indische  Altherthumskunde , 2nd  Ed.,  pp.  205-222. 


CHAPTER  XV 


ASOKA 


HANDRAGUPTA,  aided  very  largely  by  the 


V — j previous  organisation  of  the  great  empire  of 
Magadha,  was  able,  once  he  had  gained  the  mastery, 
not  only  to  remain  in  possession  for  the  long  period 
of  twenty-four  years  (about  B.C.  322-298),  but  to 
hand  on  the  empire,  with  enlarged  territory,  to  his 
son,  Bindusara.  Of  him  we  know  almost  nothing. 
The  Ceylon  Chronicles  merely  say  that  he  reigned 
for  twenty-eight  years,  and  the  Greeks,  who  call  him 
Amitrochates  (that  is,  Amitra-ghata,  foe-destroyer, 
no  doubt  an  official  title),  only  tell  us  that  Deima- 
chos  was  sent  to  him  as  ambassador  by  Antiokhos, 
and  Dionysiosby  Ptolemy  Philadelphos.  A few  sent- 
ences from  the  pen  of  the  former  are  still  extant. 

When  he  died,  about  270  B.C.,  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Asoka,  then  the  Magadha  viceroy  at 
Ujjeni,  of  whom  the  Ceylon  Chronicles  and  other 
Buddhist  writings,  and  his  own  inscriptions,  tell  us 
so  much.  The  Greeks  do  not  mention  him,  and  the 
brahmin  records  completely  ignore  him  until  the 
time  when,  ten  or  twelve  centuries  afterwards,  all 


A SO  A' A 


2 73 


danger  of  his  influence  had  passed  definitely  away. 
They  then  go  so  far  as  to  include  his  name  among 
others  in  a list  of  kings.  When  this  was  done  the 
authors  of  it  had  no  access  to  the  Buddhist  writings, 
and  could  not  read  the  inscriptions.  It  follows  that 
the  tradition  had  been  carried  down,  all  the  time, 
in  the  brahmin  schools,  though  not  one  word  about 
it  had  been  allowed  to  transpire. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  researches  by  European 
scholars  the  Ceylon  Chronicles  were  of  most  service. 
As  I have  said  elsewhere : 

“When  in  the  thirties  that  most  gifted  and  original  of 
Indian  archaeologists,  James  Prinsep,  — clarion  et  venera- 
bile  nomen , — was  wearing  himself  out  in  his  enthusiastic 
efforts  to  decipher  the  coins  and  inscriptions  of  India, 
whilst  the  very  alphabets  and  dialects  were  as  yet  uncer- 
tain, he  received  constant  help  from  George  Tumour  of 
the  Ceylon  Civil  Service.  For  in  Ceylon  there  was  a 
history,  indeed  several  books  of  history;  whereas  in  Cal- 
cutta the  native  records  were  devoid  of  any  reliable  data 
to  help  in  the  identification  of  the  new  names  Prinsep 
thought  he  could  make  out.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  without  the  help  of  the  Ceylon  books  the  striking 
identification  of  the  KingPiyadassi  of  the  inscriptions  with 
the  King  Asoka  of  history  would  never  have  been  made. 
Once  made,  it  rendered  subsequent  steps  comparatively 
easy;  and  it  gave  to  Prinsep  and  his  coadjutors  just  that 
encouragement,  and  that  element  of  certainty,  which 
were  needed  to  keep  their  enthusiasm  alive.”  1 

So  Prinsep  read  the  inscriptions.  Building  on 
the  foundation  that  he  laid,  we  can  read  them 

1 American  Lectures , p.  46. 

18 


274 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


better  now.  But  we  are  not  likely  to  forget  the 
genial  scholar  whose  noble  life  was  sacrificed  in 
the  seemingly  impossible  task  of  laying  those 
foundations.  Now  that  we  have  the  contempor- 
ary records  in  all  their  simplicity,  and  redolent 
of  the  time,  the  picturesque  accounts,  written  six 
centuries  or  more  afterwards,  by  well-meaning 
members  of  the  Buddhist  Order,  who  were  think- 
ing the  while,  not  of  historical  criticism,  but  of 
religious  edification,  seem  of  poor  account.  It  may 
be  human  to  kick  down  the  ladder  by  which  one 
has  just  climbed  up.  But  we  need  not  do  so, 
in  this  case,  with  too  great  violence.  We  may 
want  it  again.  And  it  jars  upon  the  reader  to 
hear  the  Chronicles  called  the  mendacious  fictions 
of  unscrupulous  monks.  Such  expressions  are  in- 
accurate ; and  they  show  a grave  want  of  appre- 
ciation of  the  points  worth  considering.  Just  as 
in  the  case  of  Megasthenes,  or  of  the  early  Eng- 
lish chroniclers,  so  also  in  the  case  of  the  Ceylon 
chroniclers  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect 
that  sort  of  historical  training  which  is  of  quite 
recent  growth  even  in  Europe.  The  Ceylon  Chron- 
icles would  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  the 
best  of  the  Chronicles,  even  though  so  consider- 
ably later  in  date,  written  in  England  or  in  France. 
The  opinion  of  scholars  as  to  the  attitude  to  be 
adopted  towards  such  works  is  quite  unanimous. 
The  hypothesis  of  deliberate  lying,  of  conscious 
forgery,  is  generally  discredited.  What  we  find 
in  such  chronicles  is  not,  indeed,  sober  history, 
as  we  should  now  understand  the  term,  but  neither 


A SOKA 


275 


is  it  pure  fiction.  It  is  good  evidence  of  opinion 
as  held  at  the  time  when  it  was  written.  And 
from  the  fact  that  such  an  opinion  was  then  held 
we  can  argue  back,  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  each  case,  to  what  was  probably  the  opinion 
held  at  some  earlier  date.  No  hard  words  are 
needed : and  we  may  be  unfeignedly  grateful  to 
these  old  students  and  writers  for  having  preserved 
as  much  as  we  can  gather  from  their  imperfect 
records.1 

It  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  why  we  do  not  try 
to  save  the  intellectual  effort  necessary  to  balance 
probabilities  in  later  accounts  that  cannot  be  en- 
tirely trusted,  by  confining  ourselves  exclusively 
to  the  contemporary  documents,  the  inscriptions? 
The  answer  is  that  such  a method  would  be  absurd  ; 
it  would  not  even  save  trouble.  The  inscriptions 
are  scanty.  The  text  of  all  of  them  together  would 
barely  occupy  a score  of  these  pages.  They  give 
only  a limited  view  of  the  set  of  circumstances 
they  deal  with.  Royal  proclamations,  and  official 
statements,  are  not  usually  regarded  as  telling  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 
To  put  it  mildly,  there  is  an  economy  of  candour 
in  these  documents,  intensely  interesting  though 
they  are.  And  they  are  enigmatic.  It  is  not  pos- 
sible to  understand  them  without  the  light  thrown 
upon  them  by  the  later  accounts.  It  would  only 
add  to  their  difficulty  to  reject,  for  instance,  the 
identification  of  the  Piyadassi  of  the  inscriptions 

1 See  now  on  these  Chronicles  Professor  Geiger’s  important  re- 
searches in  his  Dipavamsa  und  Mahavamsa.  Erlangen,  1902. 


2 j6 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


with  the  Asoka  of  the  literature,  or  the  fact  of 
his  relationship  to  Chandragupta,  or  of  his  capital 
having  been  at  Pataliputta,  or  any  other  of  the 
numerous  side-lights  to  be  drawn  from  the  Chroni- 
cles. As  M.  Senart  says  : 

“ I believe  that  the  Chronicles  have,  in  certain 
details,  under  the  name  of  Asoka,  preserved  of  our 
Piyadasi  recollections  sufficiently  exact,  not  only  to 
allow  a substantial  agreement  ( une  concordance  sensi- 
ble) to  appear,  but  even  to  contribute  usefully  to  the 
intelligence  of  obscure  passages  in  our  monuments.”1 

Besides  numerous  passages  scattered  through 
other  books  (which  have  not  yet  been  collected)  we 
have  four  connected  narratives  dealing  with  Asoka. 
These  are : 

(1) .  The  Asoka  Avadana,  in  Buddhist  Sanskrit, 
preserved  in  Nepal. 

(2) .  The  Dlpavamsa,  in  Pali,  preserved  in  Burma. 

(3) .  Buddaghosa’s  account  in  his  commentary  on 
the  Vinaya. 

(4) .  The  Mahavamsa,  in  Pali,  preserved  in  Ceylon. 

Of  these  the  first  was  composed  in  the  Ganges 

valley.  The  author  and  date  are  unknown  ; but  it 
is  probably  as  late  as  the  third  century  of  our  era. 
It  forms  one  of  a collection  of  legends  called  the 
Divyavadana.  The  exact  force  of  this  title  is  some- 
what ambiguous.  Avadana  means  a story',  but  as  it 
is  used  exclusively  of  the  life-story  of  a person  dis- 
tinguished in  the  religion,  the  collection  corresponds 
to  the  Vitce  Sanctorum  of  the  Christian  Church.  We 

1 Inscription  de  Piyadasi , 2.  231. 


ASOKA 


2 77 


know  so  little,  as  yet,  of  the  literature  in  Buddhist 
Sanskrit  that  we  cannot  form  any  clear  idea  of  the 
method  by  which  the  tradition  it  has  preserved  wras 
handed  down. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  other  three.  We  know 
that  there  were  twm  great  monasteries  at  Anuradha- 
pura  in  Ceylon,  the  Great  Minster  and  the  North 
Minster.  There  the  canonical  books  were  handed 
down,  in  Pali ; and  commentaries  upon  them,  in 
Sinhalese,  interspersed  with  mnemonic  verses  in 
Pali.  In  the  third  century  of  our  era  some  one  col- 
lected such  of  these  Pali  verses  as  referred  to  the 
history  of  Ceylon,  piecing  them  together  by  other 
verses  to  make  a consecutive  narrative.  He  called 
his  poem,  thus  constructed,  the  Dlpa-vamsa,  the 
Island  Chronicle.  The  old  verses  were  atrocious 
Pali,  and  the  new  ones  added  are  not  much  better. 
Then,  as  the  old  ones  were  taken,  not  from  one 
commentary  only,  but  from  several,  wre  get  the  same 
episode  repeated  in  different  verses.  Added  to  this 
the  wmrk  was  supplanted  in  Ceylon  by  the  much 
better-written  book  called  the  Maha-vamsa,  or  Great 
Chronicle ; and  was  completely  lost  there.  The 
present  text,  which  is  corrupt,  has  been  restored,  in 
the  excellent  edition  by  Professor  Oldenberg,  from 
MSS.,  all  of  which  are  derived  from  a single  copy 
that  had  been  preserved  in  Burma. 

Shortly  after  the  Island  Chronicle  was  composed, 
the  celebrated  Buddhaghosa,  a brahmin  from  Behar, 
came  over  to  Ceylon,  and  rewrote  in  Pali  the  old 
Sinhalese  commentaries.  His  work  supplanted  the 
latter,  which  are  now  lost,  and  is  the  only  evidence 


278 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


we  have  of  the  nature  of  the  ancient  tradition.  He 
quotes,  from  the  old  Sinhalese  commentary,  a num- 
ber of  the  mnemonic  verses  also  contained  in  the 
Island  Chronicle,  and  gives  us,  in  Pali,  the  substance 
of  the  Sinhalese  prose  with  which  they  had  originally 
been  accompanied. 

A generation  afterwards  Mahanama  wrote  his 
great  work,  the  Maha-vamsa.  He  was  no  historian, 
and  had,  besides  the  material  used  by  his  two  pre- 
decessors, only  popular  legends  to  work  on.  . But  he 
was  a literary  artist,  and  his  book  is  really  an  epic 
poem  of  remarkable  merit,  with  the  national  idol, 
Dushta  Gamini,  the  conqueror  of  the  invading  hosts 
of  the  Tamils,  as  its  hero.  What  he  says  of  other 
kings,  and  of  Asoka  amongst  them,  is  only  by  way 
of  introduction,  or  of  epilogue,  to  the  main  story. 

I have  compared  historically  the  various  versions 
of  one  episode  in  these  and  other  narratives  (that  of 
Asoka  and  the  Buddha  relics),1  and  have  shown  how 
interesting  are  the  results  to  be  derived  from  that 
method.  To  retell  such  an  episode  in  one’s  own 
words  may  be  a successful  literary  effort,  but  it 
would  be  of  no  historical  value.  It  would  give  us 
merely  a new  version,  and  a version  that  had  not 
been  believed  anywhere,  at  any  time,  in  India. 
By  the  historical  method,  a few  facts  of  importance 
may  yet  be  gathered  from  amidst  the  poetical  rever- 
ies of  these  later  authors. 

So,  for  instance,  the  tradition — Indian  of  course  in 
origin,  but  preserved  in  Nepal — states  that  Asoka’s 
mother  was  the  daughter  of  a brahmin  living  in 
1 y.  R.  A.  S.,  1901,  pp.  397-410. 


Fig.  46. — DETAILS  OF  THE  SCULPTURES  ON  THE  GATES  OF  SANCHI  TOPE. 

279 


28o 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Champa.  This  may  well  be  so.  We  hear  nothing 
of  his  youth  or  early  training.  The  Ceylon  books 
all  say  that  at  the  time  of  his  father’s  death  he  was 
holding  the  position  of  viceroy  at  Ujjeni,  and  that 
he  had  there  married  a local  lady  residing  at  Vedisa, 
afterwards  the  site  of  the  celebrated  building  now 
known  as  the  Sanchi  Tope.  They  had  two  children, 
a son,  Mahinda,  and  a daughter,  Sanghamitta.  But 
as  this  was  really  a mesalliance,  the  lady  being  only 
of  a merchant's  family,  she  was  left  behind  when 
Asoka  left  Ujjeni  to  go  to  Pataliputta  and  there  se- 
cure the  succession. 

All  the  accounts  agree  that  this  was  no  easy  task. 
His  elder  brother,  the  viceroy  of  Takka-sila  in  the 
Panjab,  opposed  him,  and  it  was  only  after  a severe 
struggle,  and  not  without  bloodshed,  including  the 
death  of  his  brother,  that  Asoka  made  his  way  to 
the  throne.  The  details  of  the  struggle  differ  in  the 
different  stories,  and  there  is  a passing  expression  in 
one  of  the  Edicts  (all  the  more  valuable  because  it  is 
incidental)  of  brothers  of  the  King  being  still  alive 
well  on  in  his  reign.1  On  the  whole,  I am  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  tradition  of  a disputed  succession 
is  founded  on  fact.  The  Chronicles  say  that  Asoka 
was  not  formally  anointed  king  till  between  the 
fourth  and  the  fifth  year  after  Bindusara’s  death, 
and  the  language  of  the  Edicts,  which  are  dated, 
whenever  they  are  dated,  from  the  formal  anointing, 
and  not  from  the  succession,  would  harmonise  with 
this. 

Of  the  events  of  the  first  few  years  after  Asoka’s 

1 Rock  Edict , No.  5. 


Fig.  47.— details  of  the  sculptures  on  the  gates  of  sanchi  tope. 

281 


282 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


reign  we  have  no  information.  In  the  ninth  year  a 
war  broke  out  between  Magadha  and  Kalinga,  per- 
haps the  then  most  powerful  kingdom  in  India  still 
independent  of  the  empire  ruled  over  by  Asoka. 
Of  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  dispute  we  cannot 
judge.  Our  sole  information  comes  from  one  side 
only,  and  is  an  incidental  reference  in  the  thirteenth 
Edict,  published  by  Asoka  five  years  afterwards. 
In  that  document  the  King  states  that  it  was  the 
remorse  and  pity  aroused  in  his  mind  by  the  horrors 
of  the  conquest — the  killing,  death  by  disease,  and 
forcible  carrying  away  of  individuals,  to  which  non- 
combatants  and  even  peaceable  brahmins  and  re- 
cluses were  exposed — that  resulted  in  his  conversion. 
He  does  not  say  to  what.  That,  apparently,  was 
supposed  to  be  quite  clear  to  any  one.  It  was  suffi- 
cient to  say  that  he  had  come  to  the  opinion  that 
the  only  true  conquest  was  conquest  by  the  religion 
(by  the  Dhamma). 

We  are  told,  by  the  King  himself,  of  three  stages 
in  his  conversion.  The  Rupnath  Edict  is  of  about 
the  same  date  as  the  last,  but  perhaps  a little 
earlier,  say  the  thirteenth  year  after  his  being  form- 
ally anointed,  or,  as  we  should  say,  crowned — that 
is,  in  the  seventeenth  year  after  he  became  dc  jure  the 
king.  There  he  says  that  for  two  and  a half  years 
he  had  been  a lay  disciple  (an  upasaka ),  but  had  not 
developed  much  zeal ; but  one  year  before  (before 
the  date  of  the  Edict)  he  had  entered  the  Order, 
and  begun  to  show  greater  zeal.  Then  in  the  eighth 
Rock  Edict  he  declares  that  in  the  thirteenth  year 
after  his  coronation  he  had  set  out  for  the  SambodJti 


Fig.  48. — REAR  VIEW  OF  THE  NORTHERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE. 


283 


284 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


— that  is  to  say,  he  had  set  out,  along  the  Aryan 
Eightfold  Path,  towards  the  attainment  (if  not  in 
his  present  life  then  in  some  future  birth  as  a man) 
of  the  state  of  mind  called  Arahatship.1  So  in  the 
ninth  year  of  his  reign  an  Upasaka,  in  the  eleventh 
year  a Bhikshu,  in  the  thirteenth,  still  reaching  up- 
ward, he  enters  the  Path. 

This  is  his  own  account  of  the  matter,  and  he 
gives  no  one  else  any  credit  for  his  progress.  It  is 
not  by  any  suggestion  or  instruction,  received  either 
from  layman  or  recluse,  that  he  has  adopted  this 
course.  It  is  his  own  doing  throughout.  The  Chron- 
iclers profess  to  know  the  name  of  the  bhikshu  who 
was  instrumental  in  his  conversion.  I am  not  pre- 
pared to  say,  though  their  evidence  is  so  much  later, 
that  there  may  not  be  some  truth  in  their  view.  It 
is  quite  true  that  it  is  sound  Buddhist  doctrine  that 
each  man  is  “ to  be  a lamp  unto  himself,  to  hold 
fast  as  a refuge  to  the  truth  [the  Dhamma],  to  look 
not  for  refuge  to  any  one  besides  himself.”2  But  it 
is  so  very  likely  that  one  factor  at  least  in  the  King’s 
change  of  heart  may  have  been  the  exhortation  or 
conversation  of  one  or  other  of  the  Arahats,  that  we 
may  suppose  both  accounts  to  have  been  right.  It 
is  strange  for  a king,  whether  in  India  or  in  Europe, 
to  devote  himself  strenuously  to  the  higher  life  at 
all.  It  is  doubly  strange  that,  in  doing  so,  he  should 
select  a system  of  belief  where  salvation,  independent 


1 See,  on  this  meaning  of  the  word  sambodhi,  my  Dialogues  of  the 
Buddha , i.  190-192. 

2 Book  of  the  Great  Decease , iii.  33,  translated  in  my  Buddhist 
Su/tas,  p.  38. 


286 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  any  belief  in  a soul,  lay  in  self-conquest.  No 
ordinary  man  would  have  so  behaved  ; and  the  result 
must  have  been  due  mainly  to  his  own  character,  his 
firmness  of  purpose,  his  strong  individuality.  But 
he  was  quite  incapable  of  inventing  the  system. 
We  know  it  had  existed  long  before.  And  it  is  not 
probable  that  those  who  had  already  trained  them- 
selves in  it  were  wholly  without  influence  upon  him. 

Henceforward  he  devoted  his  great  energy,  and 
the  powerful  resources  of  his  wide  empire  to  the 
realisation  of  his  new  ideals.  To  that  end  all  his 
edicts  were  published,  all  the  changes  he  made  in 
the  administration  of  his  empire  were  directed,  and 
enormous  sums  were  lavished  in  the  erection  of 
costly  buildings  in  aid  of  the  new  faith.  It  is  char- 
acteristic that  he  says  not  a word  of  these  last.  To 
his  mind  it  was  apparently  the  teaching  that  was  so 
much  the  most  important  thing  that  it  swallowed  up 
every  other  consideration.  But  the  unanimous  testi- 
mony of  all  the  later  traditions,  confirmed  as  it  is  by 
the  actual  remains  discovered,  leaves  no  doubt  upon 
the  point. 

It  is  true  that  no  building  erected  by  Asoka  re- 
mains intact  above  ground,  but  an  inscription  of  his 
has  been  found  at  Sanchi,  and  it  is  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  scholars  that  he  built  the  first  temple  at 
Bodh  Gaya.  Sanchi,  the  old  name  of  which  is  Chetiya 
Giri  (the  Hill  with  the  Shrine  upon  it),  must  have 
been  a famous  place  before  Asoka  went  to  Ujjeni. 
There  are  no  less  than  eleven  topes  on  the  plateau 
at  the  top  of  the  hill.  Some  of  them  were  opened 
in  1822  and  the  rest  in  1851.  At  the  second  excav- 


FlG.  50.  THE  GREAT  BUDDHIST  TOPE  AT  SANCHI  BEFORE  RESTORATION. 


288 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


ation  one  of  the  smaller  ones  was  found  to  contain 
part  of  the  ashes  from  the  funeral  pyres  of  Sariputta 
and  Moggallana,  two  of  the  Buddha’s  principal  dis- 
ciples. The  village  Vedisa,  where  Asoka  made  the 
acquaintance  of  his  first  wife,  lies  close  by,  and  the 
tops  of  other  hills  in  the  neighbourhood  are  also 
crowned  with  stupas. 

The  person  in  whose  honour  the  largest  tope  of 
all  was  built  has  not  been  discovered,  as  the  relic 
box  within  it  could  not  be  found.  But  a large 
number  of  inscriptions  in  characters  of  the  Asoka 
period  have  been  found  on  the  pillars  and  railing 
surrounding  it.  And  General  Cunningham  was  of 
opinion  that,  while  this  tope  itself,  like  the  other 
topes  on  the  plateau,  was  older  and  the  gateways 
younger  than  Asoka’s  time,  the  Buddhist  railing 
round  it  belonged  to  his  reign.  But  it  is  by  no 
means  impossible  that  the  gateways  also  should  be 
ascribed  to  Asoka.  And,  in  any  case,  the  remains 
at  Sanchi  may  be  fairly  used  to  give  us  an  idea  of 
the  kind  of  building  that  was  likely  to  be  put  up  by 
Asoka’s  command,  and  has  played  so  great  a part  in 
the  history  of  Buddhist  India.  The  whole  site  is 
now  a desolate  ruin  ; and  no  attempt  has  yet  been 
made  to  give,  in  drawing,  a restoration  of  how  it 
must  have  appeared  in  the  days  of  its  early  beauty. 
But  the  annexed  illustrations  show  the  present  ap- 
pearance of  the  principal  tope,  and  some  of  the 
details  of  the  surrounding  sculptures.  And  a portion 
of  the  railing  round  Bharahat  is  added  for  the  sake 
of  comparison. 

At  Bodh  Gaya,  on  the  other  hand,  though  it  is 


■SANCHI  TOPE.  A GENERAL  VIEW  FROM  THE  SOUTH. 


290 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


known  that  Asoka  built  the  original  temple,  it  has 
been  so  often  changed,  and  added  to,  that  only  a 
few  fragments  of  railing,  and  probably  the  very  re- 
markable sinhasana,  or  throne,  remain  of  the  work 
done  in  his  time.  The  present  building  has  been 
restored,  as  a national  monument,  by  order  of  the 
English  Government.  It  will  be  noticed  how  differ- 
ent it  is  in  outline  from  the  ancient  form,  as  shown 
in  the  illustration  of  the  Sanchi  Tope.  This  is  due 
to  a difference  of  ideal.  • The  ancient  tope  was  an 
enlarged  and  glorified  circular  burial  mound.  The 
later  ones  imitate  an  ordinary  dwelling-hut,  the  out- 
line of  which  was  determined  by  the  natural  bend 
of  two  bamboos,  planted  apart  in  the  ground,  and 
drawn  together  at  the  top.  This  shape  is  character- 
istic of  all  the  mediaeval  temples  in  India,  and  an 
illustration  of  the  Jain  temple  at  Khujarao  is  an- 
nexed, as  one  of  the  best  examples  of  this  style. 
But  to  return  to  Asoka’s  own  doings. 

The  Edicts  hitherto  discovered  are  thirty-four  in 
number.  We  know  of  others  seen  in  the  seventh 
century,  and  we  know,  approximately,  the  sites  on 
which  they  were  seen, — such,  for  instance,  as  those 
at  Savatthi  and  Ramagama, — and  there  must  be 
others  besides.  Further  discoveries,  therefore,  may 
be  confidently  anticipated.  Of  those  now  known 
two  are  merely  commemorative  proclamations  re- 
cording visits  paid  by  Asoka  — one  to  the  stupa 
erected  over  the  funeral  urn  of  Konagamana  the 
Buddha,  and  one  to  the  birthplace  of  Gotama  the 
Buddha.  Three  others  are  merely  short  dedications 
of  certain  caves  to  the  use  of  the  Ajlvakas,  a body 


Fig.  52. — EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE. 


29I 


292 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


of  ascetic  recluses  often  mentioned  in  the  Buddhist 
canonical  books.  The  remainder  are  so  many  tracts, 
short  proclamations  on  stone,  published  with  the 
view  of  propagating  the  Dhamma,  or  of  explaining 
the  methods  adopted  by  the  Emperor  to  that  end. 

The  word  “ Dhamma”  has  given,  and  will  always 
give,  great  trouble  to  the  translators.  It  connotes, 
or  involves,  so  much.  Etymologically  it  is  identical 
with  the  Latin  word  forma ; and  the  way  in  which 
it  came  to  be  used  as  it  was  in  India,  in  Asoka’s 
time,  is  well  illustrated  by  the  history  of  our  own 
colloquialism  “ good  form.”  Dhamma  has  been 
rendered  Law.  But  it  never  has  any  one  of  the 
various  senses  attached  to  the  word  “ law  ” in  Eng- 
lish. It  means  rather,  when  used  in  this  connection, 
that  which  it  is  “ good  form  ” to  do  in  accord  with 
established  custom.  So  it  never  means  exactly 
religion,  but  rather,  when  used  in  that  connection, 
what  it  behoves  a man  of  right  feeling  to  do — or,  on 
the  other  hand,  what  a man  of  sense  will  naturally 
hold.  It  lies  quite  apart  from  all  questions  either  of 
ritual  or  of  theology.1 

On  such  Dhamma  the  brahmins,  as  such,  did  not 
then  even  pose  as  authorities.  But  it  was  the  main 
subject  of  thought  and  discussion  among  the  Wan- 
derers, and  to  them  the  people  looked  up  as  teach- 
ers of  the  Dhamma.  And  while,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  Dhamma  was  common  property  to  them  all,  was 
Indian  rather  than  Buddhist,  yet,  on  the  other  hand, 

1 Dharmnas,  in  the  plural,  meant  phenomena,  or  forms  of  con- 
sciousness considered  as  such.  See  Mrs.  Rhys-Davids’s  Buddhist 
Psychology , pp.  xxxii.-xl. 


Fig.  53. — REAR  VIEW  OF  the  eastern  gate  of  sanchi  tope. 


294 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  people  we  now  call  Buddhists  (they  did  not  call 
themselves  so)  were  concerned  so  exclusively  with 
the  Dhamma,  apart  from  ritual  or  theology,  that 
their  doctrine  was  called  the  Dhamma.  It  fell,  natur- 
ally, for  them  into  three  divisions,  quite  distinct  one 
from  the  other, — the  theory  of  what  it  was  right 
(good  form)  for  the  layman  (the  upasaka)  to  do  and  to 
be,  of  what  it  was  right  for  the  Wanderer  (the  Pab- 
bajita)  to  do  and  to  be  ; and,  thirdly,  what  the  men 
or  women,  whether  laity  or  Wanderers,  who  had  en- 
tered the  Path  to  Arahatship,  should  do,  and  be, 
and  know.  On  each  of  these  three  points  their 
views,  amidst  much  that  was  identical  with  those 
generally  held,  contained  also,  in  many  details,  things 
peculiar  to  themselves  alone.  Now  the  Dhamma 
promulgated  by  Asoka  was  the  first,  only,  of  these 
three  divisions.  It  was  the  Dhamma  for 
laymen,  as  generally  held  in  India,  but 
in  the  form,  and  with  the  modifications,  adopted  by 
the  Buddhists. 

The  curious  thing  about  this  Dhamma,  as  a descrip- 
tion of  the  whole  duty  of  man,  of  the  good  layman, 
is — especially  when  we  consider  its  date — its  extra- 
ordinary simplicity.  This  is,  historically,  so  very 
interesting,  that  it  will  be  worth  while  to  set  it  out 
in  full. 

asoka’s  dhamma. 


Rock  Edict,  No.  i.  * 


1.  No  animal  may  be  slaughtered 
for  sacrifice. 

2.  Tribal  feasts  in  high  places  are 
not  to  be  celebrated. 


A SO  A' A 


295 


Rock  Edict,  No.  3. 


3.  Docility  to  parents  is  good. 

4.  Liberality  to  friends,  acquaint- 
ances and  relatives,  and  to  brah- 
mins and  recluses  is  good. 

5.  Not  to  injure  living  beings  is 
good. 

6.  Economy  in  expenditure,  and 
avoiding  disputes,  is  good. 


Rock  Edict,  No.  7.  < 


7.  Self-mastery 

8.  Purity  of  heart 

9.  Gratitude 

10.  Fidelity 


Rock  Edicts,  Nos. 
9 and  11. 


are  always 
possible  and 
excellent 
even  for  the 
man  who  is 
too  poor  to 
be  able  to 
give  largely. 

11.  People  perform  rites  or  cere- 
monies for  luck  on  occasion  of 
sickness,  weddings,  childbirth, 
or  on  starting  on  a journey — cor- 
rupt and  worthless  ceremonies. 
Now  there  is  a lucky  ceremony 
that  may  be  performed, — not 
worthless  like  those,  but  full  of 
fruit, — the  lucky  ceremony  of 
the  Dhamma.  And  therein  is 
included  right  conduct  towards 


slaves  and  servants,  honour  to- 
wards teachers,  self-restraint 
towards  living  things,  liberal- 
ity to  brahmins  and  recluses. 
These  things,  and  others  such 
as  these,  are  the  lucky  ceremony 


2g6 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


Rock  Edicts,  Nos. 
9 and  n. 


Rock  Edict,  No.  12.  - 


Pillar  Edict,  No.  2.  < 


according  to  the  Dhamma. 
Therefore  should  one — whether 
father  or  son  or  brother  or  mas- 
ter— interfere  and  say:  “So  is 
right.  Thus  should  the  cere- 
mony be  done  to  lasting  profit. 
People  say  liberality  is  good. 
But  no  gift,  no  aid,  is  so  good  as 
giving  to  others  the  gift  of  the 
Dhamma,  as  aiding  others  to 
gain  the  Dhamma.” 

12.  Toleration.  Honour  should 
be  paid  to  all,  laymen  and  re- 
cluses alike,  belonging  to  other 
sects.  No  one  one  should  dis- 
parage other  sects  to  exalt  his 
own.  Self-restraint  in  words  is 
the  right  thing.  And  let  a man 
seek  rather  after  the  growth  in 
his  own  sect  of  the  essence  of 
the  matter. 

13.  The  Dhamma  is  good.  But 
what  is  the  Dhamma  ? The 
having  but  little,  in  one’s  own 
mind,  of  the  Intoxications  *;  do- 
ing many  benefits  to  others;  com- 
passion; liberality;  truth;  purity. 


1 This  is  a technical  term  of  the  Buddhist  system  of  self-training. 
They  were  originally  threefold, — the  mental  intoxication  arising 
from  lusts,  that  arising  from  the  craving  after  a future  life,  and  that 
arising  from  ignorance.  Then  a fourth  was  added — the  intoxication 
of  mind  arising  from  dogmas,  or  speculative  metaphysics.  The  Ara- 
hat  has  none  at  all  of  these.  Asoka’s  good  layman  is  to  have  “ but 
little.” — See  Rhys-Davids,  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha , vol  i.,  p.  92. 


ASOKA 


297 


Pillar  Edict,  No.  3.  < 


14.  Man  sees  but  his  good  deeds, 
saying:  “This  good  act  have  I 
done.”  Man  sees  not  at  all  his 
evil  deeds,  saying:  “ That  bad 
act  have  I done,  that  act  is  cor- 
ruption.” Such  self-examina- 
tion is  hard.  Yet  must  a man 
watch  over  himself,  saying: 
“ Such  and  such  acts  lead  to 
corruption, — such  as  brutality, 
cruelty,  anger,  and  pride.  I 
will  zealously  see  to  it  that  I 
slander  not  out  of  envy.  That 
will  be  to  my  advantage  in  this 
world,  to  my  advantage,  verily, 
in  the  world  to  come.” 


That  is  all.  There  is  not  a word  about  God  or 
the  soul,  not  a word  about  Buddha  or  Buddhism. 
The  appeal  is  made,  in  apparent  confidence  that  the 
statements  are  self-evident,  to  all  the  subjects  of  the 
empire.  Under  what  conditions  would  such  a state 
of  things  have  been  possible?  Had  there  been  then 
anything  new  or  strange  in  this  view  of  life  (which 
now  seems  so  strange  to  a European  reader)  there 
would  have  been  phrases  in  the  Edicts  striving  to 
meet  the  natural  objection  that  must  certainly  have 
arisen.  There  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  follows 
that  the  doctrine,  as  an  ideal,  must  have  been  al- 
ready widely  accepted,  though  men  did  not  always 
act  up  to  it.  It  is  exactly  as  if,  in  a country  already 
Christian,  the  king  should  issue  proclamations  call- 
ing on  the  people,  in  this  point  or  in  that,  to  act  up 


298 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


to  the  recognised  ideal  of  the  Christian  life.  Asoka, 
precisely  as  in  the  parallel  case  of  Constantine,  em- 
braced a cause  so  far  successful  that  it  seemed  on 
the  verge  of  victory.  And  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely 
that  reasons  of  state  may  have  had  their  share  in 
influencing  Asoka,  just  as  they  certainly  did  in  the 
case  of  Constantine.1 

It  was  not  only  within  the  boundaries  of 
his  own  empire  that  Asoka  tried  to  spread  the 
Dhamma.  In  the  thirteenth  Edict,  in  about  255  B.C., 
addressed  to  his  sons  and  grandsons,  after  declaring 
that  he  himself  found  pleasure  rather  in  conquests 
by  the  Dhamma  than  in  conquests  by  the  sword,  he 
says  that  he  had  already  made  such  conquests  in  the 
realms  of  the  kings  of  Syria,  Egypt,  Macedonia, 
Epirus,  and  Kyrene,  among  theCholas  and  Pandyas 
in  South  India,  in  Ceylon,  and  among  a number  of 
peoples  dwelling  in  the  borders  of  his  empire. 

“ Everywhere  ” he  adds,  “ men  conform  to  the  in- 
structions of  the  King  as  regards  the  Dhamma;  and 
even  where  the  emissaries  of  the  King  go  not,  there, 
when  they  have  heard  of  the  King’s  Dhamma,  the  folk 
conform  themselves,  and  will  conform  themselves,  to  the 
duties  of  the  Dhamma,  that  dyke  against 
[here  the  context  is  lost]. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  how  much  of  this  is  mere 
royal  rhodomontade.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the 
Greek  kings  are  only  thrown  in  by  way  of  make- 
weight, as  it  were;  and  that  no  emissaries  had  been 
actually  sent  there  at  all.  Even  had  they  been  sent, 

1 See  Professor  Hardy’s  Asoka  : Ein-Charakter-Bild , etc.,  p.  30. 


A SO  A' A 


299 


there  is  little  reason  to  believe  that  the  Greek  self- 
complacency  would  have  been  much  disturbed. 
Asoka’s  estimate  of  the  results  obtained  is  better 
evidence  of  his  own  vanity  than  it  is  of  Greek  do- 
cility. We  may  imagine  the  Greek  amusement  at 
the  absurd  idea  of  a “ barbarian  ” teaching  them 
their  duty  ; but  we  can  scarcely  imagine  them  dis- 
carding their  gods  and  their  superstitions  at  the 
bidding  of  an  alien  king. 

Here,  fortunately,  the  Chronicles  come  to  our 
assistance.  In  a curt  record  they  give  us  the  names 
of  missionaries  sent  out  by  Tissa,  the  son  of  Moggali 
(the  author  of  the  Katha  Vatthu,  and  the  president 
of  the  3rd  Council  held  in  Asoka’s  reign  and  under 
his  patronage).  1 They  were  sent  to  Kashmir,  to 
Gandhara,  to  the  Himalaya  (Nepal  or  Tibet),  to 
the  border  lands  on  the  Indus,  to  the  coast  of 
Burma,  to  South  India  and  Ceylon.  Each  party 
consisted  of  a leader  and  four  assistants.  Of  the 
five  missionaries  to  the  Himalaya  region  three  are 
named  as  Majjhima,  Kassapa-gotta,  and  Dundub- 
hissara. 

Now  when  Cunningham  opened  the  Topes  (brick 
burial  mounds)  at  and  near  Sanchi  he  discovered 
under  them  several  of  the  funeral  urns  containing 
ashes  from  the  funeral  pyres  of  the  distinguished 
persons  in  whose  honour  the  Topes  had  been  built. 
One  of  the  urns  has  inscribed  round  the  outside  of 
it,  in  letters  of  the  3rd  Century,  B.C.,  the  simple 
legend : “ Of  the  good  man,  Kassapa-gotta,  the 
teacher  of  all  the  Himalaya  region.”  Round  the 

1 Dlpavamsa,  chap.  viii.  ; Mahavamsa,  chap.  xii. 


300 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


inside  of  the  urn  is  the  legend  : “Of  the  good  man, 
Majjhima.”  In  another  Tope  close  by  at  Sonari 
two  urns  bear  the  separate  inscriptions:  “Of  the 
good  man,  Kassapa-gotta,  son  of  Koti,'  teacher  of 
all  the  Himalaya  region,”  and:  “ Of  the  good  man 
Majjhima,  the  son  of  Kodini.” 1  2 In  the  same  Tope 
was  a third  urn  with  the  inscription  : “ Of  the  good 
man  Gotiputta,  of  the  Himalaya,  successor  of  Dun- 
dubhissara.”  3 

Many  of  the  Topes  had  been  opened,  in  search  of 
treasure,  and  the  urns  in  them  ruthlessly  destroyed, 
before  the  archaeologists  examined  them ; so  the 
evidence  is  incomplete.  Even  as  it  stands  the  evid- 
ence of  the  old  characters  on  those  preserved  to 
us  will  be  estimated  in  different  ways  by  different 
minds.  With  these,  and  similar  facts  before  them, 
some  still  consider  the  literature  as  a tissue  of 
mendacious  fictions  ; others  still  consider  that  the 
Buddha  is  only  a sun  myth,  and  his  disciples  merely 
stars.  I must  humbly  confess  myself  unable  to 
follow  speculations  so  bold.  The  Ceylon  scholars 
knew,  of  course,  nothing  of  these  long-buried  in- 
scriptions ; and  could  not  have  read  or  understood 
them,  even  had  they  had  access  to  them.  What  we 
have  to  explain  is  how  they  came,  centuries  after- 
wards, to  record  precisely  the  same  names  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  connection.  It  is  only  the  wildest 

1 Cunningham's  Bhilsa  Topes , pp.  287,  316. 

2 This  is  his  mother’s,  not  his  father’s,  name. 

s The  rare  and  curious  form  “ Dundubhissara”  is  a nickname,  and 
may  be  rendered  “ Trumpet-voiced,”  though  the  dundubhi  is  not  a 
trumpet. 


ASOKA 


301 


credulity  that  could  ascribe  this  to  chance.  And, 
dull  as  it  may  seem,  I see  no  better  explanation  than 
the  very  simple  one  that  these  men  really  went  as 
missionary  teachers  to  the  Himalaya  region,  and 
that  the  fact  that  they  had  done  so  was  handed 


Fig.  54. — DETAILS  FROM  EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE. 

down,  in  unbroken  tradition,  till  the  Chroniclers 
put  it  down  for  us. 

The  Chronicles  thus  not  only  confirm  but  also 
supplement  Asoka’s  information  about  the  missions. 
And  when  we  find  that  they  ascribe  the  sending  out 
of  the  missionaries,  not  to  Asoka,  but  to  the  leaders 
of  the  Order,  and  that  they  make  no  mention  of  any 
such  missions  to  the  Greek  kingdoms  in  the  distant 


302 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


West,  it  is  at  least  probable  that  the  view  they  take 
is  more  accurate,  in  these  respects,  than  the  official 
proclamation. 

So  Asoka  mentions  a mission  to  Ceylon.  But  it 
is  his  mission.  No  credit  is  given  to  any  one  except 
himself.  He  merely  says  it  was  successful,  and  gives 
no  details.  As  we  might  expect,  the  Chroniclers  of 
the  island  give  names  and  details,  which  they  work 
up  into  a picturesque  and  edifying  legend.  Its 
central  incident  is  the  transplanting  to  Ceylon  of  a 
branch  of  the  tree  at  Bodh  Gaya  under  which  the 
Buddha  had  achieved  enlightenment. 

Now  this  event  is  portrayed  on  two  curious  bas- 
reliefs  on  the  Eastern  Gateway  at  Sanchi,  which 
must  be  nearly  as  old  as  the  event  itself.  In  the 
middle  of  the  lower  picture  is  the  Bodhi  Tree,  as  it 
stood  at  Gaya,  with  Asoka’s  chapel  rising  half-way 
up  the  tree.1  A procession  with  musicians  is  on  both 
sides  of  it.  To  the  right  a royal  person,  perhaps 
Asoka,  is  getting  down  from  his  horse  by  the  aid  of  a 
dwarf.  In  the  upper  picture  there  is  a small  Bodhi 
tree  in  a pot,  and  again  a great  procession,  with  to 
the  left  a city,  perhaps  Anuradhapura,  perhaps  Tam- 
ralipti,  to  which  the  young  tree  was  taken  before  it 
went  to  Ceylon.  The  decorations  on  either  side 
of  the  lower  bas-relief  are  peacocks,  symbolical  of 
Asoka’s  family,  the  Moriyas  (the  Peacocks);  and 
lions,  symbolical  of  Ceylon,  or  of  the  royal  family 
of  Ceylon  (that  is,  of  Simhala,  the  Lion  island). 

1 It  is  so  represented  also  in  the  Bharahat  bas-relief,  which  bears  an 
inscription  saying  it  is  the  Bodhi  Tree.  See  Cunningham,  plates  xii. 
and  xxx. 


A SOX' A 


303 


Opinions  may  differ  as  to  the  meaning  of  some  of 
the  details,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the 
main  subject.1 

It  was  a great  event,  an  impressive  state  ceremony, 
and  a fitting  climax  to  that  one  of  the  missionary 
efforts  of  Asoka’s  reign  which  was  most  pregnant  of 


FlG.  55. — DETAILS  FROM  EASTERN  GATE  OF  SANCHI  TOPE. 

results.  For  there,  in  that  beautiful  land,  the  pro- 
vince most  fruitful  of  any  in  India  or  its  confines  in 
continuous  and  successful  literary  work  and  effort, 
there  have  never  been  wanting,  from  that  day  to 
this,  the  requisite  number  of  earnest  scholars  and 

' Dr.  Griinwedel  was,  I believe,  the  first  to  point  this  out.  See 
his  Buddhist  Art  in  India,  translated  by  Dr.  Burgess,  pp.  69-72. 


304 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


students  to  keep  alive,  and  hand  down  to  their  suc- 
cessors, and  to  us,  that  invaluable  literature  which 
has  taught  us  much  of  the  history  of  religion,  not 
only  in  Ceylon,  but  also  in  India  itself. 

In  the  seventh  Pillar  Edict,  dated  in  the  twenty- 
eighth  year  (that  is,  in  the  thirty-second  year  after 
Bindusara’s  death,  say  about  248  B.C.),  Asoka  sums 
up  all  the  other  measures  he  had  taken  for  the  pro- 
pagation of  what  he  calls  his  Dhamma.  They  are 
as  follows : 

1.  The  appointment  of  functionaries  in  charge  of 
districts  and  provinces  to  instruct  the  people. 

2.  The  putting  up  of  pillars  of  the  Dhamma  (that 
is,  pillars  with  the  Edicts  inscribed  on  them),  and  the 
appointment  of  special  ministers  at  the  court  to 
superintend  the  propagation  of  the  Dhamma. 

3.  The  planting  of  trees  for  shade,  and  the  digging 
of  wells,  at  short  intervals,  along  the  roads. 

4.  The  appointment  of  special  ministers  to  super- 
intend charities  to  both  householders  and  Wander- 
ers, and  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  Order,1  and  of 
other  sects  having  jurisdiction  apart  from  the  ordin- 
ary magistrates. 

5.  The  appointment  of  these  and  other  officers  to 
superintend  the  distribution  of  the  charities  of  the 
Queen  and  their  children. 

He  claims  by  these  means  to  have  had  great  suc- 
cess in  promoting  the  Dhamma  (as  set  out  above, 
pp.  294-297),  and  adds  that  such  positive  regulations 
as  he  has  made  are  of  small  account  compared  with 

1 It  is  noteworthy  that  he  does  not  say  which.  The  Order  would 
be  taken,  in  his  opinion,  by  everybody  to  mean  the  Buddhist  Order. 


A SO  A' A 


305 


the  change  of  disposition  which  he  has  been  able  to 
bring  about ; and  that,  above  all,  his  own  example 
will  lead  people  to  adopt  his  teachings. 

Any  one  who  knows  Indian  feeling  will  be 
amazed  at  the  boldness  of  this  program.  That  the 
king  should  appoint  Lord  High  Almoners  or  Char- 
ity Commissioners  to  look  after  his  own  gifts  would 
offend  none.  That  these  officials  should  be  required 
to  look  into  the  manner  in  which  the  great  people 
at  the  court  disbursed  their  charities  and  report  if 
they  went  wrong  (wrong,  that  is,  from  the  king’s 
point  of  view),  would  be  unpopular  enough  in  any 
case,  but  doubly  so  when  his  point  of  view  was  what 
it  was.  That  the  king  should  settle  disputes,  when 
brought  before  him  or  his  court,  between  members 
of  the  various  Orders,  was  right  enough.  That  he 
should  arrogate  to  himself  to  look  after  their  private 
concerns  was  quite  another  matter.  That  he  should 
hold  a certain  set  of  opinions,  and  be  bent  on  pro- 
pagating them,  was  comfortable  to  those  that  held 
the  same.  That  he  should  ignore  every  one  else, 
even  on  his  own  side,  and  give  out  that  he  was  the 
teacher,  and  that  the  Dhamma  was  his  Dhamma, 
would  be  accepted,  of  course ; but  with  a shrug,  sug- 
gestive that  much  allowance  must  be  made  for  the 
self-complacency  of  kings. 

That  he  failed  was  no  wonder.  The  set  of  opin- 
ions he  favoured  with  his  patronage  was  enfeebled 
and  corrupted  by  his  favour.  With  all  his  evident 
desire  to  do  the  very  best  possible  things,  and  always 
to  be  open  to  the  appeals  of  the  subjects  he  looked 

upon  as  his  children,  he  left  his  empire  in  such  a 
20 


306 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


condition  that  it  soon  disintegrated  and  crumbled 
away.  He  made  the  boast  (vain  boast)  that  the 
brahmins,  who  claimed  to  be  gods  upon  the  earth, 
had,  by  his  efforts,  ceased  to  be  so  regarded,  and  he 
himself  committed  the  irreparable  blunder  of  im- 
agining himself  to  be  a deus  ex  machind,  able  and 
ready  to  put  all  things  and  all  men  straight. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all,  he  surely  remains  one  of  the 
most  striking  and  interesting  personalities  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  There  is  a personal  touch  in 
the  Edicts  which  cannot  be  ignored.  The  language 
must  be  his  own.  No  minister  would  have  dared 
to  put  such  confessions  and  such  professions  into 
the  mouth  of  so  masterful  a master.  The  language 
is  rugged,  uncouth,  involved,  full  of  repetitions,  re- 
minding us  often  of  the  mannerisms  of  the  speeches 
of  Cromwell.  And  the  preoccupation  with  himself, 
his  opinions,  his  example,  his  good  deeds,  amounts 
almost  to  megalomania.  But  how  sane  the  grasp 
of  things  most  difficult  to  grasp  ! How  simple,  how 
true,  how  tolerant,  his  view  of  conduct  and  of  life! 
How  free  from  all  the  superstitions  that  dominated 
so  many  minds,  then  as  now,  in  East  and  West  alike  ! 
It  was  not  his  own  view,  it  is  true,  quite  as  much  as 
he  makes  out.  But  he  had  made  it  his  own,  and 
was  keen  to  bring  others  to  know  it.  To  realise 
what  this  means,  one  may  consider  how  many  of  the 
Greek  princes  in  all  the  vast  domains  which  had 
once  formed  the  empire  of  Alexander  were  intellect- 
ually capable  of  rising  to  the  same  height.  Unless 
it  be  maintained  that  the  general  average  of  intel- 
ligence in  such  things  was  higher  then  in  India  than 


A SO  A' A 


307 


in  Greece  it  seems  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  Asoka  must  have  been  a man  of  quite  excep- 
tional natural  ability.  The  style  of  his  Edicts,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  scarcely  compatible  with  much  intel- 
lectual culture  or  training.  His  early  years  were  ap- 
parently otherwise  occupied.  But  his  long  reign  is  a 
a sign  of  physical  vigour;  and  of  his  strong  will  and 
moral  earnestness,  even  to  the  point  of  self-control, 
there  can  be  no  question.  Those  who  think  Indian 
affairs  should  be  looked  at  through  the  spectacles  of 
mediaeval  brahmins  can  never  forgive  him  for  having 
made  light  of  the  priests,  and  the  gods,  and  the  super- 
stitious ceremonies  of  the  day.  But  the  gospel  he 
preached  was  as  applicable  to  the  India  of  that  day 
as  it  would  be  to  India  now.  That  he  was  wanting 
in  the  most  efficient  sort  of  practical  statesmanship 
seems  to  have  been  chiefly  due  to  the  glamour  of 
his  high  position,  of  a majesty  that  was,  indeed  (and 
we  should  never  forget  this),  so  very  splendid  that  it 
was  great  enough  to  blind  the  eyes  of  most.  The 
culture  of  a Marcus  Aurelius  or  an  Akbar  might 
have  saved  him  from  this.  But  even  as  it  was,  it  is, 
among  European  rulers,  with  Marcus  Aurelius  for 
some  things,  with  Cromwell  for  others,  that  he  de- 
serves to  be  compared.  That  is  no  slight  praise,  and 
had  Asoka  been  greater  than  he  was  he  would  not 
have  attempted  the  impossible.  We  should  have 
had  no  Edicts.  And  we  should  probably  know  lit- 
tle of  the  personality  of  the  most  remarkable,  the 
most  imposing,  figure  among  the  native  princes  of 
India. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


KANISHKA 


ROM  the  death  of  Asoka  onwards  to  the  time 


1 of  the  Guptas,  the  history  of  India  is,  at  pre- 
sent, in  a state  of  the  utmost  confusion  and  dark- 
ness. The  Jain  and  Buddhist  literature  of  this 
period  is  still,  almost  entirely,  buried  in  manuscript. 
From  time  to  time  a ray  of  light,  now  in  one  part  of 
what  had  been  the  great  Magadha  empire,  now  in 
another,  illumines  the  darkness.  The  labours  of 
numismatists  and  epigraphists  have  been  directed 
to  the  reconstruction,  from  such  isolated  data  as  the 
the  coins  and  inscriptions  give  us,  of  a continuous 
chronology  and  of  a connected  history.  The  pro- 
gress of  this  work,  especially  in  the  past  few  years, 
has  been  great.  But  the  field  is  so  vast,  the  data 
are  so  sporadic,  doubt  as  to  the  eras  used  is  so 
persistent  an  obstacle,  that  the  difficulty  of  this 
reconstruction  is  immense. 

One  or  two  of  the  ancient  sites  have  been  partially 
excavated  ; but  archaeological  exploration  has  been 
almost  confined,  as  yet,  in  India,  to  what  can  be 
found  on  the  surface.  There  was  a widely  diffused 


308 


KAN  I SI  IK  A 


309 


and  continuous  literary  activity  throughout  the 
whole  of  this  (now,  to  us)  dark  period  ; and  much 
of  it  is  still  extant.  But  only  one  portion  of  it, 
that  portion  preserved  in  the  brahmin  schools 
of  theosophy  and  the  sacrifices,  has  been  as  yet, 
adequately  explored.  And  this  portion — partly  be- 
cause it  has  been  mostly  recast  at  a later  date,  partly 
because  the  priests,  very  naturally,  tended  to  ignore 
the  events  of  a period  when  they  were  not  yet  in 
the  ascendant- — has  yielded  but  little  result.  No 
attempt  has,  therefore,  been  made  to  describe  the 
social  or  economic  condition  of  the  people,  or  to 
trace  the  gradual  change  of  opinion,  according  to 
the  varying  local  influences,  within  this  period.  And 
even  as  regards  the  bare  lists  of  kings  and  names  of 
battles,  the  loss  or  gain  of  this  or  that  town  or 
province  by  this  or  that  combatant,  there  is  at 
present  only  little  evidence,  and  a very  imperfect 
consensus  of  opinion  as  to  the  meaning  even  of  that 
little.  It  will  be  sufficient,  under  these  circum- 
stances, if  we  confine  ourselves  here  to  a rapid  out- 
line of  the  salient  facts. 

During  the  whole  period  there  was  no  really 
paramount  power  in  India.  One  or  other  of  the 
many  smaller  kingdoms  into  which  it  was  divided 
attained,  at  one  time  or  another,  considerable  exten- 
sion of  boundary,  and  held  for  a generation  or  two 
a position  superior  to  the  rest.  But  no  one  of  them 
attained  at  any  time  to  so  much  as  a quarter  of  the 
size  of  the  old  empire  of  Magadha. 

It  is  very  suggestive  that  of  Magadha  itself  we 
hear  almost  nothing  for  more  than  five  centuries 


3io 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


after  the  death  of  Asoka.  This  is,  indeed,  scarcely 
surprising.  For  while,  in  the  western  parts  of  India, 
the  coins  have  preserved  the  names  of  the  kings,  in 
Magadha  the  people  continued  to  use  the  coinage 
bearing  only  the  private  mark  or  marks  of  the 
individual  or  guild  that  issued  them.  None  of  the 
ancient  sites  there — Savatthi  or  Vesali  or  Mithila, 
Pataliputta  or  Rajagaha — have  been  excavated. 
And,  thirdly,  the  literature  of  Magadha  in  this 
period,  mostly  Jain  or  later  Buddhist,  lies  also  still 
buried  in  MSS.  But  as  early  as  150  B.C.  we  have 
one  short  note  in  the  Elephant  Cave  inscription  of 
Kharavela,  King  of  Kalinga,  who  claims  to  have 
twice  invaded  Magadha  successfully,  having  ad- 
vanced the  second  time  as  far  north  as  the  Gan- 
ges. As  he  also  gives  us  to  infer  that  his  father 
and  grandfather  had  preceded  him  on  the  throne, 
Kalinga  must,  in  that  case,  have  become  independ- 
ent of  Magadha  very  soon  after  the  death  of 
Asoka.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  name  of  the 
then  King  of  Magadha  is  not  mentioned  in  this 
inscription.  We  may  fairly  conclude,  at  all  events 
provisionally,  from  the  fact  that  no  neighbouring 
king  claims  to  have  conquered  them,  that  both 
Magadha  and  Kalinga  retained  their  independence 
from  the  time  of  Asoka  down  to  that  of  Kanishka. 
Magadha,  however,  must  have  lost  all  its  outlying 
provinces,  and  consisted,  usually,  only  of  the  ancient 
kingdoms  of  Magadha  and  Champa,  together  with 
the  eastern  portion  of  Kosala. 

South  of  Kalinga  was  the  important  and  powerful 
kingdom  of  the  Andhras,  with  its  chief  capital  at  Dha- 


KANISHKA 


311 

nakataka  or  Amaravati,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Krishna. 
We  know  little  of  its  history  in  early  times  (after 
the  death  of  Asoka),  but  later  on,  though  it  was  never 
able  to  conquer  the  other  Dravidian  states  in  the 
south  of  India,  it  pushed  its  conquests  to  the  north, 
and  conquered  a large  province  in  the  Dekkan. 
There  in  Patitthana,  the  subordinate  Andhra  capital, 
ruled  a viceroy  who  was  often  at  war  with  the 
sovereigns  of  Avanti  and  Gujarat. 

The  south  of  the  peninsula  was  occupied  with  the 
three  kingdoms  of  the  Cholas,  the  Keralas,  and  the 
Pandyas.  All  the  ancient  traditions  of  these  peoples 
have  been  lost.  But  it  is  evident  from  the  few  refer- 
ences to  them  in  the  second  Rock  Edict  of  Asoka, 
and  in  the  Chronicles  of  Ceylon,  that  they  had  at- 
tained, at  and  shortly  after  Asoka’s  time,  to  a civil- 
isation not  incomparable  with  that  of  the  Aryan 
settlements.  The  conquest  of  Ceylon  by  the  Chola 
Tamils  under  their  prince  Elara,  and  the  victorious 
combat  afterwards  waged  against  him  by  the  Sin- 
halese national  hero,  Dushta  Gamini,  form  the  main 
episode  in  the  Great  Chronicle.  This  must  have 
been  about  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  B.C. 
Twice  afterwards,  in  the  middle  and  at  the  end 
of  the  same  century,  the  Chola  Tamils,  under  Bhal- 
luka  and  Bahiya  respectively,  issued  from  their 
capital,  Madhura,  overran  the  north  of  Ceylon,  and 
remained  for  some  years  in  possession  of  Anuradha- 
pura,  the  capital  of  the  island.  It  is  true  that  they 
were  each  time  driven  back  again  out  of  the  island. 
But  this  shows  us  at  least  an  amount  of  military 
organisation  which  may  make  it  easier  to  understand 


312 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


how  the  Andiiras  found  it  easier  to  push  forward  to 
the  north-west  than  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  the 
soutli  of  the  peninsula. 

When  they  established  themselves  in  the  Dekkan, 
probably  shortly  after  the  Christian  era,  the  Andhras 
found  opposed  to  them  in  the  north  and  north- 
west viceroys  (called  Satraps)  of  a Scythian  overlord. 
There  had  probably  been  distinct  viceroys,  one  rul- 
ing from  Ujjen  over  Avanti,  the  other  ruling  from 
Giri-nagara  over  the  Kathiawad  and  Katch.  But 
early  in  the  second  century  A.D.  they  had  declared 
themselves  independent  of  their  overlord,  and  had 
then,  by  a process  we  are  not  yet  able  to  follow, 
become  amalgamated  into  a powerful  kingdom  ex- 
tending about  six  hundred  miles  from  east  to  west 
and  more  than  three  hundred  miles  from  north  to 
south.  The  reigning  king,  usually  resident,  it  is 
supposed,  at  Giri-nagara,  was  called  the  Great  Satrap. 
The  crown  prince  bore  the  title  of  Satrap.  And  as 
their  coins  have  been  found  in  large  numbers,  and 
give  the  names  and  titles  both  of  the  reigning  sa- 
trap and  his  father,  and  also  a date,  it  is  possible  to 
reconstruct  the  line  of  this  dynasty  with  unusual 
precision.  The  names,  also,  of  most  of  the  Andhra 
kings  are  known  to  us,  but  there  is  a difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  order  in  which  they  should  be 
arranged.  We  thus  have  the  dry  bones  of  the  skele- 
ton of  the  history  of  one  kingdom,  and  many  of  the 
bones  of  the  history  of  the  adjacent  kingdom,  for 
a long  period  after  the  commencement  of  the  Christ- 
tian  era. 

For  the  more  than  two  centuries  between  Asoka 


KANISHKA 


3*3 


and  that  time  we  are  still  almost  in  the  dark.  Only 
a few  hints  have  survived,  and  those  in  Chinese 
sources,  as  to  how  or  when  the  Sakas  or  Scythians 
had  come  into  possession  of  these  provinces.  These 
hints  enable  us  to  conjecture  that  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Asoka  the  provinces  to  the  extreme 
north-west  of  the  empire  of  Maghada  (those  pro- 
vinces which  Seleukos  had  ceded  to  Chandragupta) 
asserted  their  independence  ; and  that  they  did  this 
not  as  a whole,  but  in  small  divisions,  under  the 
leadership  of  local  magnates,  mostly  of  Greek  ex- 
traction. In  the  course  of  internecine  conflicts  these 
smaller  states  had  been  gradually  amalgamated  into 
one  or  two,  or  perhaps  three,  Greek  kingdoms,  when, 
in  about  160  B.C.,  the  Sse  or  Sakas,  just  then  ex- 
pelled from  Sogdiana  by  the  Yueh-ti,  appeared  upon 
the  scene.  After  a long-continued  series  of  cam- 
paigns, with  varying  fortune,  against  the  possess- 
ors of  the  country,  they  forced  their  way  through,  in 
about  120,  into  India  proper.  Their  route  was  prob- 
bably  southward  through  Sind.  But,  in  any  case, 
in  the  course  of  the  following  years  they  estab- 
lished outposts,  under  the  rule  of  officers  called 
Kshatrapas  (the  Persian  word  “satraps”)  at  Math- 
ura, Ujjeni,  and  Giri-nagara,  the  overlord  remaining 
behind  in  Seistan,  which  means  simply,  “ the  land  of 
the  Sse,”  or  Sakas. 

Meanwhile  the  five  tribes  of  the  Yueh-ti,  them- 
selves pressed  on  from  behind  by  other  nomad 
tribes,  followed  close  on  the  heels  of  the  Sakas, 
and,  in  about  120  B.C.,  became  the  rulers  of  Baktria. 
About  a century  afterwards,  one  of  the  five  tribes, 


3*4 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


the  Kushanas,  became  the  predominant  partner  in 
the  confederation.  This  added  very  greatly  to  the 
power  of  the  organisation ; and  it  was  probably  the 
pressure  they  were  able  to  exert  on  the  Saka  over- 
lord  that  gave  opportunity  to  the  Saka  satraps  in 
the  south  to  make  themselves  independent  of  their 
suzerain  in  Seistan.  Soon  afterwards  the  Kushanas, 
also,  in  their  turn,  pushed  forward  into  India,  but 
by  a northern  route,  taking  possession  of  the  Pan- 
jab, and  then  ousting  the  Saka  satrap  from  Mathura. 
The  capital  of  the  whole  of  this  wide  dominion,  from 
Baktria,  or  even  west  of  Baktria  down  to  the  Doab, 
became  Takka-sila,  the  ancient  rock  fortress  of  the 
Takka  tribe,  the  Taxila  of  the  Greeks.  Mathura, 
however,  remained  the  subordinate  capital.  And  it 
is  chiefly  in  the  course  of  the  systematic  excavations 
carried  out  there  that  the  numerous  inscriptions 
have  been  found,  giving  the  names  and  the  dates  of 
Kushan  kings.  With  the  help  of  these,  and  of  the 
coins,  the  dynastic  list  has  now  been  drawn  up  with 
comparative  certainty ; but  there  is  the  greatest 
diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  era  to  which  the  dates 
ought  to  be  referred. 

It  is  strange  that  the  third  line  of  evidence,  that 
of  the  Indian  literature,  has  not  been  hitherto  taken 
in  aid  towards  the  decision  of  this  question.  It 
supplies  at  least  one  consideration  of  the  first  im- 
portance that  should  not  have  been  overlooked. 
By  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  best  authorities 
we  yet  have  (pending  the  publication  of  the  Bud- 
dhist Sanskrit  texts  themselves)  on  the  later  forms 
of  Buddhism,  that  is  to  say,  the  Tibetan  and  Chinese 


KANISHKA 


315 


historiographers,  Asvaghosha,  the  author  of  the 
Buddha  Carita,  lived  in  the  time  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  Kushan  kings,  Kanishka.  This  work 
is  a poem  in  pure  Sanskrit,  and  in  elegant  style, 
on  the  life  of  the  Buddha.  It  is  addressed  there- 
fore, of  course,  not  to  brahmins  as  such,  but  to 
the  laity.  Now  at  what  period  in  the  history  of 
Indian  literature  could  such  a poem  have  been 
composed,  taking  into  consideration  the  facts  as 
to  the  history  of  the  language  set  out  above  in 
Chapter  IX.?1  The  oldest  inscription  in  pure  San- 
skrit is  of  the  middle  of  the  second  century  A.D. 
Even  if  Asvaghosha’s  poem  be  the  very  earliest 
literary  work  written  in  regular  Sanskrit  for  the 
use  of  the  laity  (and  that  is  not  at  all  impossible), 
it  can  scarcely  be  dated  earlier.  It  is  therefore 
improbable,  if  the  authorities  just  referred  to  can 
be  relied  on,  that  the  era  used  in  the  Kushana 
inscriptions  can  be  fixed  at  any  date  so  early  as 
to  be  incompatible  with  the  evidence  as  to  the 
history  of  language,  drawn  from  hundreds  of  in- 
scriptions of  equal  genuineness.2  On  the  other 
hand,  if  Kanishka  be  much  earlier  it  is  imposs- 
ible that  the  poem  can  have  been  written  at  his 
court ; but  the  evidence  is  such  that  we  should, 

1 These  facts  have  now  been  admirably  collected  and  criticised 
in  Professor  Franke’s  Pali  and  Sanscrit  (1902)  ; a work,  which, 
I regret  to  say,  reached  me  too  late  to  be  utilised  in  Chapter  IX. 

2 All  the  authorities  on  this  question  of  the  Kushan  era  are  men- 
tioned in  the  valuable  article  by  Mr.  Vincent  Smith  in  the  Jotirnal 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  for  1903.  He  dates  Kanishka  from 
125  to  153  A.D.  Mr.  J.  F.  Fleet  will  also  discuss  the  question  in  an 
article  to  be  immediately  published  in  the  same  Journal. 


3 J6 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


provisionally,  accept  this  till  the  authorities  on 
which  it  rests  shall  have  been  proved  to  be  mistaken. 
In  either  case  the  date  of  the  poem  must  be 
approximately  the  last  half  of  the  second  century 
A.D.  And  just  as  the  first  public  proclamation 
addressed,  in  regular  Sanskrit,  to  the  public,  was 
written  at  the  court  of  a foreign  king,  the  Scythian 
satrap  at  Giri-nagara,  so  it  would  be  consistent  with 
all  our  other  information  if  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  first,  literary  work  addressed,  in  regular  San- 
skrit, to  the  laity,  should  have  been  written  at  the 
court  of  a foreign  king,  the  Tartar  sovereign  of 
the  Kushan  realm. 

The  above  argument  is  further  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  at  a Council  of  the  Buddhist  Order,  held 
under  the  patronage  of  Kanishka,  three  works  were 
composed  in  Sanskrit  as  official  commentaries  on 
the  ancient  canonical  books.  These  three  Sanskrit 
works  are  extant  in  our  European  libraries,  and  it 
is  most  deplorable  that  these  important  documents 
have  not  yet  been  published.  But  even  without 
having  them,  in  full,  before  us,  we  can  safely  draw 
the  conclusion  that  Kanishka  cannot  have  reigned 
before  the  time  when  it  had  become  recognised 
that  the  right  language  to  use  on  such  an  occasion 
was,  not  Pali,  but  Sanskrit,  and  this  would  be 
equally  true  though  the  Sanskrit  of  these  works 
should  turn  out,  when  we  can  consult  them,  to 
be  less  elegant  than  that  written  by  Asvaghosha.1 

This  introduction  of  the  use  of  Sanskrit  as  the 
lingua  franca  is  a turning-point  in  the  mental 

1 See,  on  this  Council,  my  Milinda,  vol.  ii. , pp.  xv.,  xvi. 


KANISHKA 


317 


history  of  the  Indian  peoples.  The  causes  that 
preceded  it,  the  changes  in  the  intellectual  stand- 
point that  went  with  it,  the  results  that  followed 
on  both,  are  each  of  them  of  vital  importance. 
The  main  cause  has  been  supposed  to  be  the 
study,  in  the  brahmin  schools,  of  the  Vedic  forms 
no  longer  familiar,  the  evolution  in  this  manner 
of  a grammatical  system,  and  then  the  gradual 
application  of  this  system  to  the  vernacular  speech, 
until  at  last  any  form  not  in  accordance  with  the 
system  became  considered  as  vulgar,  and  fell  into 
disuse.  A subsidiary  cause,  which  also  deserves 
consideration,  is  the  influence  of  the  intercourse 
with  foreigners,  and  especially  with  the  socially 
powerful  Greeks,  Scythians,  and  Tartars.  The 
teaching  of  grammar,  and  the  spread  of  ideas  of 
learned  diction  among  the  more  educated  people, 
would  be  greatly  strengthened  by  the  necessity 
of  explaining  linguistic  forms  to  people  of  this 
sort.  Who  so  likely  to  have  been  asked  to  do 
this  as  those  who  were  known  to  have  already 
devoted  attention  to  the  subject,  and  had  a well- 
earned  reputation,  that  is,  the  brahmins  ? And 
why,  otherwise,  should  it  be  precisely  these  border 
districts  on  the  extreme  north-west  frontier  (not 
looked  upon  in  other  matters  as  the  home  of  or- 
thodox teaching)  that  were  the  home  of  the  most 
developed  and  most  authoritative  grammatical 
teaching,  and  the  place  of  residence  of  the  most 
distinguished  grammarians? 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  gradual  adoption,  and  at 
last  with  the  almost  exclusive  use,  of  the  brahmin 


318 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


literary  language,  must  have  come  a gradual  increase 
in  the  deference  and  respect  paid  to  the  acknowledged 
masters  of  that  tongue.  There  were  other  reasons, 
of  course ; and  there  was  action  and  reaction  in  all 
these  matters.  But  the  result  is  very  striking.  Three- 
fourths  or  more  of  the  persons  named,  and  the  ob- 
jects of  donation  specified,  in  all  the  inscriptions 
throughout  India,  from  Asoka’s  time  to  Kanishka’s,1 
are  Buddhist,  and  the  majority  of  the  remainder  are 
Jain.  From  that  time  onwards  the  brahmins,  the 
gods  they  patronised,  the  sacrifices  they  carried  out, 
receive  ever-increasing  notice  till  the  position  of 
things  is  exactly  reversed,  and  in  the  fifth  century 
A.D.  three-fourths  are  brahmin,  and  the  majority  of 
the  rest  are  Jain.  This  is  the  clearest  evidence  of  a 
strange  revulsion  of  feeling.  What  had  been  the 
predominant  national  faith  has  become  the  faith  of 
a minority.  India,  which  can  fairly,  down  to  the 
time  of  Kanishka,  be  called  “ Buddhist  India,”  ceases 
to  be  so.  And  the  process  goes  on,  slowly  indeed 
but  continually,  until  there  is  not  a Buddhist  left  in 
the  land  where  Buddhism  arose. 

How  slow  the  process  was  is  shown  by  the  ac- 
counts of  the  state  of  things  when  the  Chinese 
pilgrims  travelled  in  India.  Fa  Hian,  in  the  early 
years  of  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  finds  Buddhism 
nearly  everywhere  in  decay.  He  unfortunately  gives 
no  figures.  But  Yuan  Chwang,  in  the  seventh  cent- 
ury, has  done  so.  These  I have  examined  in  detail," 
and  the  result  shows  still,  at  that  time,  in  India, 

1 3rd  century  b.c.  to  2nd  century  a.d. 

2 Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1S91,  pp.  418-421. 


KANISHKA 


319 


nearly  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  Buddhist  Order, 
of  whom  three-fourths  still  adhered  to  the  older 
forms  of  the  faith,  and  one-fourth  were  Mahayanist. 
Brahmin  accounts  attribute  the  final  stages  in  the 
movement  to  a furious  persecution  brought  about 
at  the  instigation  of  the  great  brahmin  apostle, 
Kumarila  Bhatta,  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighth  cent- 
ury. This  view,  having  received  the  support  of  the 
distinguished  European  scholars,  Wilson  and  Cole- 
brooke,1  has  naturally  been  widely  repeated  until  we 
find  the  Rev.  W.  T.  Wilkins  saying: 

“ The  disciples  of  Buddha  were  so  ruthlessly  perse- 
cuted that  all  were  either  slain,  exiled,  or  made  to 
change  their  faith.  There  is  scarcely  a case  on  record 
where  a religious  persecution  was  so  successfully  car- 
ried out  as  that  by  which  Buddhism  was  driven  out  of 
India.”  2 

I do  not  believe  a word  of  it.  In  the  Journal  of 
the  Pali  Text  Society  for  1896,  I have  discussed  the 
question  in  detail,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion, 
entirely  endorsed  by  the  late  Professor  Biihler,3  that 
the  misconception  has  arisen  from  an  erroneous  in- 
ference drawn  from  expressions  of  vague  boasting, 
of  ambiguous  import,  and  doubtful  authority.  We 
must  seek  elsewhere  for  the  causes  of  the  decline  of 
the  Buddhist  faith  ; and  they  will  be  found,  I think, 
partly  in  the  changes  that  took  place  in  the  faith 
itself,  partly  in  the  changes  that  took  place  in  the 

1 Wilson,  Sanskrit  Dictionary , p.  xix. ; Colebrooke,  Essays,  vol.  i., 
P-  323- 

2 Daily  Life  and  Work  in  India  (London,  18S8),  p.  IIO. 

3 y.  P.  T.  S.,  1896,  pp.  108-110. 


320 


BUDDHIST  INDIA 


intellectual  standard  of  the  people.  And  in  both 
respects  the  influence  of  the  foreign  tribes  that 
invaded  India  from  the  north-west  can  scarcely  be 
exaggerated. 

Just  as  when  the  Goths  and  Vandals  invaded  the 
Roman  Empire  in  Europe — and  it  is  surprising  that 
an  historical  parallel  so  close,  and  so  full  of  suggest- 
ive analogues,  has  not  been  pointed  out  before — they 
did  indeed  give  up  their  paganism  and  adopted  the 
dominant  Christian  faith;  but  in  adopting  it  they 
contributed  largely  to  the  process  of  change  (some 
would  call  it  decay)  that  had  already  set  in  ; so  also 
in  India  the  Scythians  and  the  Kushan  Tartars,  after 
they  had  conquered  all  the  Western  provinces,  gave 
up  their  paganism,  and  adopted  the  dominant  Bud- 
dhist faith  of  their  new  subjects.  But  in  adopting  it 
they  contributed  largely,  by  the  necessary  result  of 
their  own  mental  condition,  to  the  process  of  change 
(some  would  call  it  decay)  that  had  already  set  in. 

Gibbon  has  shown  us,  in  his  great  masterpiece, 
how  interesting  and  instructive  the  story  of  such 
a decline  and  fall  can  be  made.  And  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  hope  that,  when  the  authorities, 
especially  the  Buddhist  Sanskrit  texts,  shall  have 
been  made  accessible,  and  the  sites  shall  have  been 
explored,  the  materials  will  be  available  from  which 
some  historian  of  the  future  will  be  able  to  piece 
together  a story,  equally  interesting  and  equally 
instructive,  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  Buddhism  in 
India. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  MOST  ANCIENT  COINS  OF  INDIA. 

Mr.  Rapson,  of  the  British  Museum,  has  been  kind  enough  to 
prepare  the  plates  for  Figs.  24  and  25.  and  to  draw  up  the  following 
key,  giving  explanations  of  each  of  the  coins. 

Fig.  24. 

1.  -F;  Taxila:  Single-die  Coin. 

In  incuse,  1.,  pile  of  balls;  r.,  chaitya  : beneath,  wavy  line 
and  uncertain  designs  ( ? vine-branches). 

2.  At;  Punch-marked  Coin,  showing  on  both  sides  various  counter- 

marked  symbols. 

3.  -F;  Taxila  : Double-die  Coin. 

Obv.  Elephant  to  r. ; above,  chaitya. 

Rev.  in  incuse.  Maneless  Fion  to  1.;  above,  svastika ; in 
front,  chaitya. 

4.  ,F;  Vatasvaka. 

Chaitya:  1.,  Vatasvaka  in  Brahml  characters;  r..  standing 
figures  worshipping  ; beneath,  pile  of  balls. 

5.  -F;  Kada  : Cast  Coin. 

Obv.  and  Rev.  similar  : Kadasa  in  BrahmT  characters ; 
above,  Snake. 

6.  .F;  Mathura. 

I 'pat  iky  a in  Brahml  characters  ; above,  siastika. 

7.  -F;  Ujjain. 

Obv.  Humped  Bull  to  r. ; above,  ‘ Ujjain’  symbol. 

Rev.  Ujeni(ya)  in  BrahmT  characters  ; above,  a Hand. 


321 


322 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 


8.  /E;  Uddehika. 

Obv.  Humped  Bull  to  r.;  above,  Tree  within  railing  repre- 
sented horizontally. 

Rev.  Udehaki  in  Brahml  characters  ; above,  three  symbols. 

[J.  R.  A.  S.,  1900,  p.  98,  PI.  1.] 

9.  IE;  Tripuri. 

In  incuse,  Tripuri  in  Brahml  characters  ; beneath,  two 
symbols.  [J.  R.  A.  S.,  1894,  p.  554,  PI.  15.] 

10.  IE;  Kuluta,  Vlrayasasa. 

Obv.  Chaitya  surmounted  by  three  symbols;  r. , Ra  ; 1.,  iia, 
in  Kharosthe  characters. 

Rev.  Wheel  surrounded  by  circle  of  dots  ; inscr.  in  Brahml 
characters.  Rdjiia  Koliitasya  Virayasasya. 

[rf.  Cunningham,  Coins  of  Ancient  India , p.  70,  PI. 

IV.,  14,  and  J.  R.  A.  S.,  1900,  pp.  415,  429.] 

11.  Ai;  Kuninda,  Amoghabhuti. 

Obv.  Deer  to  r.,  facing  female  figure;  above,  symbol;  be- 
low, chaitya.  Inscription  in  Brahml  characters.  Raha 
Kunimdasa  Amoghabhiitisa  Mahdrajasa. 

Rev.  Various  symbols  ; Inscr.  as  on  obv.,  but  in  Kharosthe 
characters. 

12.  IE;  Ayodhya  : Cast  Coin. 

Obv.  Fish  to  1.;  above,  svastika. 

Rev.  Steelyard  ; above,  crescent. 

13.  IE;  Ayodhya,  Suryamitra. 

Obv.  Peacock  to  r.,  facing  Palm-tree. 

Rev.  in  incuse.  Humped  Bull  to  1.;  Suyyamitrasa  in 
Brahml  characters. 

14.  IE;  Kosambe,  Bahasatimita. 

Obv.  Humped  Bull  to  r.,  facing  chaitya;  above,  ‘Ujjain’ 
symbol. 

Rev.  Tree  within  railing  ; on  either  side,  symbols  ; Bahasa- 
timitasa  in  Brahml  characters. 


Fig.  25. 

1.  Eran  Coin.  Dhanapalasa  in  very  ancient  Brahm!  letters  written 

from  right  to  left.  Described  in  Cunningham’s  Coins  of 
Ancient  India,  PI.  XI.,  No  18.  Nowin  the  British  Museum. 

2.  Eran  Coin.  Obv.  Horse  to  1 ; above,  Ujjen  symbol.  Rev.  r. 

and  1.,  Tree  within  railing.  Eraka  in  Brahml  letters.  Now  in 
Mr.  L.  White  King’s  collection. 


INDEX 


A 

Aboriginal  tribes  in  India,  43, 
. 44,  54,  55 
Adityas,  the  gods,  236 
Agama,  later  term  for  Nikaya, 
168 

Agni,  216,  219,  235,  242 
Ajatasattu,  king  of  Magadha,  3, 
12-16,  89 

Ajivakas,  an  order  of  ascetics, 
143,  290 
Akbar,  307 

Akhyanas  (Akkhanas),  1S3,  185 
Aldermen  of  the  guilds,  96,  97 
Alexander,  his  Indian  coin,  100  ; 

his  invasion  of  India,  267,  268 
Alphabets,  116-118,  124,  131 
Alwis,  James,  28 
Ambattha's  visit  to  the  Sakiyas, 
19 

Amitra-ghata,  272 
Ancient  history  and  modern,  the 
dividing  line  between,  240 
Andhra  dynasty,  310-312 
Angas,  name  of  a tribe,  23  ; name 
of  Jain  books,  164 
Animism,  210-230 
Aiijana,  the  Buddha’s  grand- 
father, 18 

Aiijana  Wood,  near  Saketa,  39 
Anuradhapura,  69,  70,  75,  85, 
_ 201,  277,  311 
Apastamba,  date  of,  32 
Arachosia,  268 

Archaeology  in  India,  41,  132 


Architecture  in  old  times,  63  foil. 
Ardha-Magadhi,  154 
Armies,  size  of,  in  India,  266 
Aryan,  immigration,  routes  of, 
31  ; settlements  in  the  South, 
. !56 

Asavas  (Intoxications)  296 
Asceticism,  see  Tapas 
Asoka,  not  mentioned  in  the 
Buddhist  canon,  174,  nor  by 
the  Greeks,  272  ; Indian  ac- 
counts of,  276  ; his  treatment 
of  the  Buddha  relics,  278  ; his 
marriage,  279 ; his  corona- 
tion, 280 ; his  conquest  of  Ka- 
linga,  2S2  ; his  conversion, 
282-2S4  ; his  buildings,  286— 
290  ; his  Edicts,  290-299  ; his 
missions,  298-300  ; his  sending 
the  Bo  Tree  to  Ceylon,  302- 
304  ; other  measures  to  pro- 
pagate his  Dhamma,  304  ; his 
failures,  305  ; his  character, 
306 

Asoka  Avadana,  276 
Asramas,  the  four,  brahmin 
theory  of,  249,  250 
Assakas,  an  ancient  tribe,  27, 
203 

Assattha  tree,  230,  234 
j Assyria,  1 1 3 
Asuras,  see  Titans 
! Asvaghosha,  poet,  315 
Asvins,  236 

Atanatiya  Suttanta,  219 
Atharva  Veda,  166,  213,  252 


323 


324 


INDEX 


Attha  SalinI,  revised  in  Ceylon, 

175 

Authors,  none  known  before 
Asoka,  179,  180 

Avanti,  one  of  the  four  great 
kingdoms,  3,  4,  27,  28  ; incor- 
porated into  Magadha,  267  ; 
probable  home  of  Pali,  153, 
154 

A vesta,  1S1 
Ayojjha,  34,  39 

B 

Babylon,  104,  113,  1 1 5 , 116 
Bacon’s  Essays,  166 
Baktria,  313 
Bali  offerings,  227 
Banyan  Deer  Jataka,  190-194, 
198 

Barbers,  guild  of,  94 
Barrows,  round,  the  origin  of 
stupas,  80 

Barter,  traffic  by,  100 
Basket  makers,  54,  96 
Baths,  hot-air,  74 ; open-air,  75 
Baveru  (Babylon),  104 
Behar,  42 

Benares,  conquest  of,  by  Kosala, 
25  ; size  of,  34 

Bengal,  ignored  in  old  records, 
29 

Bhaddiya,  consul  of  the  Sakiyas, 
19 

Bhandarkar,  Professor,  32,  1 50, 

177 

Bharahat  Tope,  10,  82,  198,  209, 
288 

Bharhut,  see  Bharahat 
Bharukaccha,  first  mention  of, 
31  ; trade  at,  38  ; sea  vogages 
from,  96,  104,  116 
Bimbisara,  king  of  Magadha,  3 ; 

builds  Rajagaha,  37 
Bindusara,  king  of  Magadha, 
272,  304 

Blacksmiths.  264 

Boats,  94,  103 

Bodh  Gaya,  2S8,  302 

Bodhi,  prince  of  the  Vacchas,  7 


Bodhi,  the  sacred  tree,  229 
Bodhisatva,  progress  of  the  idea, 
177 

Books  and  MSS.,  no 
Bower  MS.,  124,  128 
Brahma,  the  god,  235 
Brahma-Viharas,  197 
Brahmanas,  language  of,  147  ; 

morality  of,  240,  247 
Brahml  Lipl,  later  name  of  the 
Asoka  alphabet,  117 
Brahmin,  spelling  of  the  word, 
2 ; their  social  rank,  54 ; 
trades  they  followed,  57  ; could 
marry  a Kshatriya,  59  ; were 
considered  low-born  as  com- 
pared with  Kshatriyas,  60 ; 
their  theories  as  to  learning, 
1 1 S ; claimed  to  be  divinities, 
1 18  ; as  grammarians,  149, 
317;  their  influence  in  Budd- 
hist times,  150,  159;  their 

struggle  against  the  rajputs, 
iii,  158  ; the  debt  we  owe  to  the 
learned,  210;  their  divisions, 
249 

Bricks  used  for  writing  on,  121- 
124 

Buddha  Carita,  315 
Buddha  Vamsa,  age  of,  176 
Buddhaghosa,  201,  277 
Buddhist  Literature,  down  to 
Asoka,  chronological  table  of, 
188 

Bidder,  Professor,  43,  113,  126, 
202,  319 

Burgess,  James,  31 
Burma,  94,  104 
Burnouf,  1 7 1 
Butchers,  93 

C 

Caravans,  98 
Cariya  Pitaka,  176,  196 
Carpenters,  264 
Carts,  93,  98 
Caste,  56,  59,  62 
Cattle,  customs  as  to  village,  45, 
46 


INDEX 


325 


Cetis,  an  ancient  tribe,  26,  29 
Ceylon  Chronicles,  261,  274-277 
Ceylon,  ignored  in  the  old  re- 
cords, 29  ; date  of  first  Aryan 
settlement  in,  33,  104  ; history 
of  language  in,  155  ; were  the 
Pali  books  forged  there?  170 
foil.  ; scholarship  in,  304 
Chamba,  32 

Champa,  23,  35,  104,  260 
Chanakya,  270 

Chandragupta,  emperor  of  India, 
259-271 
Charms,  5 

Childers,  Professor,  201 
Cholas,  298,  311 
Chunam  work  in  ancient  build- 
ings, 69,  82 

Cities,  very  few  in  number,  50  ; 
architecture  of,  61  foil.  : great 
size  of,  35,  263 

Clans,  in  ancient  India,  17-22 
Climate,  influence  of,  42,  43 
Coins,  100  foil.,  106;  the  oldest 
Sanskrit,  136 
Colours,  the  four,  53,  62 
Commensality  and  connubium, 
52.  57.  5§ 

Common  lands,  45-48 
Constantine,  298 
Copper  plates,  122-125 
Cowell,  Professor,  1S9 
Credit,  instruments  of,  101 
Cromwell,  306,  307 
Cutch,  see  Kacch 

D 

Dagabas,  So 
Dakkhinapatha,  30 
Dancing  and  music,  1S6 
Dantapura,  settlement  at,  31 
Dasaratha,  Asoka’s  grandson, 
H3 

Dead,  curious  customs  as  to  dis- 
posal of  the,  7S-82 
Dekkan,  30,  31  r,  312 
Delhi,  27 

Deussen,  Professor,  190 


Devadaha,  the  Buddha’s  ances- 
tor, 18 

Devadatta,  the  Buddha’s  cousin, 
13.  193 

Dhamma,  meaning  of,  292  ; 

sketch  of  Asoka’s,  294-297 
Dhamma-kathika,  167 
Dhana  Nanda,  king  of  Magadha, 
267 

Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  date 
of,  107 

Diana,  the  goddess,  217 
Diogenes,  245 
DTpavamsa,  276,  277 
Disease  due  to  escape  of  the 
soul,  252 

Divyavadana,  a book  of  legends, 

10 

D’Oldenburg,  Professor  Serge, 
209 

Drama,  use  of  the,  1S4-1S6 
Dravidian,  names  of  imports 
into  the  West,  116;  tribes, 
civilisation  of,  53.  56  ; dialects, 
charged  with  Sanskrit,  156; 
kingdoms,  31 1 
Dreams,  252,  253 
Drugs,  9S 

Dundubhissara,  299,  300 
Dushta  Gamini,  king  of  Ceylon, 

278,311 

Dvaraka,  capital  of  Kamboja, 
28 

Dyaus,  236 
Dyers,  93 

E 

Earth,  the  mother,  47,  219 
East,  the  immovable,  237 
Economic  conditions,  87  foil., 
258 

Eights,  the  name  of  a book  of 
lyrics,  17S 

Elephant,  legend  of  the  decoy, 
5 ; their  use  in  war,  266-26S 
Elu,  the  Prakrit  of  Ceylon,  155 
Endogamy  and  exogamy,  52 
Epics,  growth  of,  179-1S3,  206 
Eran  coins,  1 1 5 


326 


INDEX 


F 

Family  rights,  47 
Famines,  49,  50 

Fausboll,  Professor,  189,  200, 
204 

Feer,  M.  Leon,  194 
Fergusson,  James,  227 
Fick,  Dr.,  62,  87,  202 
Fields,  custom  as  to  cultivation 
of,  46  ; not  salable,  47 
Fire-drill,  231 

Fishing,  only  in  rivers,  not  in 
the  sea,  93 
Fleet,  Mr.  J.  F.,  3t 
Folk-lore,  208 

Forests,  large  expanse  of,  20,  21; 
see  Maha-vana 

Fortifications  of  Pataliputta,  262 
Forts  in  ancient  times,  38,  63 
Franke,  Professor  Otto,  315 
Freedom  of  thought  in  ancient 
India,  247,  258 
Frescoes,  96 

G 

Gaggara,  queen  of  Anga,  35 
Gambling  halls,  public,  provided 
by  the  king,  71,  72 
Games,  108 
Gandak,  river,  259 
Gandhara,  the  country,  28 
Gandharvas,  220 
Garudas,  harpies  or  griffins,  224 
Gavelkind,  custom  of,  47 
Gedrosia,  ceded  to  Magadha,  268 
Geiger,  Professor,  vi,  275 
Gekiner,  Professor,  181 
Giribbaja,  old  capital  of  Ma- 
gadha, 37,  38 

Giri-nagara  (Girnar),  in  the 
Kathiawad,  134,  312 
Gods,  origin  of,  255 
Godhavari  river,  27,  30,  156 
Gold  plates  used  for  writing, 
124 

Golden  Age,  in  India,  187 
Gonaddha,  in  Avanti,  103 


Gosinga  Vihara,  MS.  from,  122, 
124,  128,  173 

Grammar,  studied  in  the  North- 
West,  203 
Grierson,  Mr.,  32 
Grimblot,  185 
Griinwedel,  Dr.,  303 
Guilds  of  work  people,  the  eight- 
een, go  foil.  96 
Gupta  dynasty,  150,  308 

H 

Hardy,  Professor  E.,  298 
Hardy,  Spence,  30 
Hermits,  140;  distinct  from  Wan- 
derers, 143 

Hillebrandt,  Professor,  242 
Himalayas,  29  ; dialects  of,  32  ; 
as  boundary,  260  ; missionaries 
sent  to,  299-301 
Hiranya-kesin,  date  of,  32 
History,  how  treated  in  brah- 
min records,  157 
Hoernle,  Dr.,  126 
Hopkins,  Professor,  87,  152 
Hume’s  “Essay,”  166 
Hunting  and  hunters,  44,  93 

I 

Images,  none  in  ancient  times, 
24 1 

Indika  of  Megasthenes,  260  foil. 
Indra,  the  god,  232-235 
Inscriptions  in  India,  were  first 
in  Pali,  130  ; gradual  growth 
of  use  of  Sanskrit  in,  131- 
139  ; specimen  of  an  Asoka, 
135  ; donations  recorded  in, 

151 

Interest  on  loans,  101 
Intermarriages  in  ancient  India, 
59 

Internal  evidence  as  to  the  age 
of  literary  records,  165 
Intoxication,  god  of,  see  Soma  ; 

ethical,  296 
Irish  legends,  1S1 
Irrigation,  46,  86,  264 


INDEX 


3 2/ 


Isisinga  legend,  201 
I-Tsing’s  travels,  35 
Ivory,  94  ; ivory-workers,  93,  98 

J 

Jacobi,  Professor,  31,  163,  164, 
183,  185,  227,  235 
Jain  records,  12,  163,  318 
Jain  temple  at  Khujarao,  283, 
290 

Jains,  founder  of,  41;  early  name 
of,  143 

Janaka,  king  of  Videha,  26 
Jataka  Book,  discussion  of  his- 
tory of,  1 89-208  ; summary  of 
results,  207,  208 
Jetavana,  99 
Jewellers,  93 
Jhanas,  197 
Jumna,  the  river,  27 
Jupiter,  235 

K 

Kacch,  Gulf  of,  28,  32,  38 
Kahapana,  square  copper  coin, 
100- 1 02 

Kalasoka,  king  of  Magadha, 
makes  l’ataliputta  the  capital, 
r37 

Kalinga,  earliest  settlement  in, 
31 

Kalpa  - rukkha,  the  Wishing 
Tree,  227 

Kamboja,  the  country,  28 
Kammassa-dhamma,  in  the  Kuru 
country,  27 

Kampilla,  capital  of  the  Kurus, 
r27'.35 

Kahcipura,  156 
Kanishka,  315-320 
Kanoj,  capital  of  the  Kurus,  27 
Kapilavastu,  the  old  town  and 
the  new,  18,  103 
Kasi,  township  of,  matter  of  dis- 
pute between  Kosala  and 
Magadha,  3 ; the  Kasis  as  one 
of  the  sixteen  great  tribes,  24 
Kassapa,  the  Buddha,  229 


Kassapa-gotta,  a Buddhist  mis- 
sionary, 299,  300 
Katha  Vatthu,  the  book,  age 
of,  167,  176  ; author  of,  299 
Kennedy,  Mr.,  115 
Kerala,  31 1 

Kharavela,  king  of  Kalinga,  310 
Kharostrl  alphabet,  124 
Khotan,  MS.  from,  124 
Kolarian  tribes,  53,  56 
Konagamana,  the  Buddha,  290 
Kosala,  one  of  the  four  great 
Kingdoms,  3 ; importance  of, 
in  the  Buddha’s  time,  25  ; its 
influence  on  language,  147; 
the  language  of,  its  place  in 
history,  153;  the  Ramayana 
arose  in,  183  ; centre  of  Budd- 
hist literary  activity,  183 
Kosambi,  city  on  the  Jumna,  3, 

36-  103 

Kshatriyas,  53  ; working  as  art- 
isans, 54,  55  ; not  always 

Aryan  by  race,  56  ; when  made 
outcaste,  58  ; disputed  the 
claim  of  the  brahmins  to  social 
supremacy,  6r 
Kumarila,  iv,  156 
Kurus,  ancient  tribe,  27 
Kushanas,  314  foil. 

Kusinara,  the  Mallian  town,  26, 
^ 37,  103 

Kuvera,  the  god,  220 
L 

Land  tenure,  46  foil. 

Language,  outline  of  history  of, 
in  India,  153,  211 
Learning,  its  nutriment,  ill 
Leather-workers,  54,  92 
Lena  dialect,  154 
Lettering,  an  ancient  game,  108 
Levi,  Professor.  124,  240 
Licchavis,  the  clan,  26,  40  ; their 
public  hall  for  religious  and 
philosophical  discussion,  141  ; 
their  political  power,  25,  260 
Linga,  worship  of,  166 


328 


INDEX 


Literature,  pre-Buddhistic,  120 
foil.  ; Pali,  161  foil. 

Luck,  goddess  of,  see  Sir! ; 

Asoka's  view  of,  295 
Liiders,  Dr.,  201 

M 

McCrindle,  his  Ancient  India , 
261 

Macchas,  an  ancient  tribe,  27 
Macdonell,  Professor,  226 
Madda,  the  country,  29,  39 
Madhura,  on  the  Jumna,  36;  in 
South  India,  31 1 
Magadha,  one  of  the  four  great 
kingdoms,  3;  one  of  the  six- 
teen main  tribes,  24;  its  strug- 
gle with  Champa,  260;  in  Alex- 
ander’s time,  267;  after  Asoka's 
death,  309  310 

Maha-bharata,  iii,  183,  184,  190, 
214.  255 

Maha  Kaccana,  lived  at  Ma- 
dhura, 36 

Maha  Kosala,  king  of  Kosala, 
8,  10 

Maha-nama,  27S 
Maha-samaya  Suttanta,  219 
Maha-setthi,  97 

Maha-sudassana  Jataka,  195- 
197 

Maha-vamsa,  276-278 
Maha-vana,  the  Great  Wood,  20, 
21,  41,  142 
Maha-vastu,  173 
Mahayana,  177,  319 
Mahissati,  103 

Mahosadha,  his  underground 
dwelling,  66 
Maine,  Sir  Henry,  238 
M alias,  their  Mote  Hall,  19; 
their  territory,  26;  their  power, 
2Q 

Mallika,  queen  at  Savatthi,  her 
hall  for  public  debates,  141 
Marcus  Aurelius,  307 
Markets,  100,  101 
Maruts,  wind  gods,  236 


Maung-gon,  gold  plates  from, 
124,  126 

Medicine,  ancient,  231 
Megasthenes,  49,  50,  260-268, 
274 

Mesa  inscription,  1 1 3 
Mesopotamia,  its  influence  on 
India,  70 
Metal- work,  90 

Middle  Country,  the  so-called, 

172 

Milanda,  the  king,  39 
Milinda,  the  book,  37,  38,  167, 

173 

| Millionaires,  102 
Miners,  264 

Mithila,  capital  of  Videha,  37 
Mitra,  a god,  236 
Moggallana,  288 
Moon,  as  a god,  219 
Mora-nivapa,  142 
Mortgage,  not  allowed,  46 
Mote  Halls,  in  the  old  republics, 
19;  in  heaven,  66 
Mother  Earth,  47,  219,  220 
Mountains,  Spirit  of  the,  220 

N 

Nagas,  siren-serpents,  220-224, 
233.  235 

Nalanda,  in  Magadha,  103 
Nikayas,  the  five,  168;  differ  in 
doctrine,  173;  age  of,  176;  im- 
portance of,  187;  tree-worship 
in,  226 

Nirvana,  under  the  tree,  231 
Northern  and  Southern  Budd- 
hism, discussion  of  the  phrase, 
171-173 

O 

Occupation,  facility  of  change  of. 
56.  57 

Octroi  duties,  98 
Oldenberg,  Professor,  181 
Ophir,  perhaps  - Sovfra,  38 
Order,  the  Buddhist,  304,  316 
Orissa,  29 
| Ossian,  181 


INDEX 


329 


P 

Painting,  96 
Paithana,  see  Patitthana 
Pajapati,  the  god,  235 
Pajjota,  king  of  Avant,  3 foil. 
Pali,  its  relation  to  Sanskrit, 
120-153  ; the  Pali  literature, 
161  foil. 

Text  Society,  163 

Panca-nekayika,  168 
hanchalas,  ancient  tribes,  27,  203 
Pandyas,  298,  31 1 
Panini,  144,  203 
Panjab,  260,  267 
Paramatta,  the  god,  224,  256 
Paramitas,  the  ten,  a late  doc- 
trine, 177 

Parantapa,  king  at  Kosambi,  7 
Parasariya,  a brahmin  teacher, 
144 

Parayana,  sixteen  lyrics,  178 
Pasenadi,  king  of  Kosala,  3,  8- 

11.  19 

Pataliputta,  capital  of  Magadha, 
203;  its  size  and  fortifications, 
262 

Patimokkha,  rules  of  the  order, 
learnt  by  heart,  ill 
Patitthana,  30.  103,  311 
Pava,  a capital  of  the  Mallas,  26 
Payaga,  30 

Peasantry,  social  position  of,  51 
Peppe,  Mr.,  his  discovery  of  the 
Sakiya  Tope,  84,  130,  131 
Petakin,  one  who  knows  a Pit- 
aka,  167 

Peta  Vallhu,  the  book,  age  of, 
176 

Phallus-worship,  165 
Philpot,  Mrs.,  224 
Pindola,  a recluse,  7 
Pingalaka,  a king,  176 
Pippal  tree,  230,  234 
Pischel,  Professor,  148,  154 
Piyadassi,  name  of  Asoka,  273- 
276 

Police,  21,  98,  108 
Population  in  ancient  India,  18, 
33 


Potters,  54,  55,  92 
Prakrit,  meaning  of  the  term, 
and  date  of,  154 
Prices  of  commodities,  101 
Prinsep,  his  first  readings  of  the 
Asoka  inscriptions,  273 
Progressive  societies,  238,  239 
Pukkusati,  king  of  Gandhara,  28 

R 

Rainy  season,  112 
Raja,  meaning  of  the  word  on 
old  documents,  19 
Rajagaha,  capital  of  Magadha, 
3.6.  37 

Rajasthan,  dialects  of,  32 
Rajasuya  sacrifices,  203 
Rama-gama,  290 
Rama-ganga  river,  259 
Ramayana,  geography  of,  31. 

34;  place  of  origin  of,  183 
Rapson,  Mr.,  136 
Republics,  in  ancient  India,  1,  2; 
organisation  of,  17  foil.:  their 
Mote  Halls,  18;  consuls  in 
the,  19;  list  of  names  of,  22 
Rhys-Davids,  Mrs.,  on  economic 
conditions,  87;  on  the  Attha 
SalinT,  175;  on  the  meaning  of 
Dhamma,  292 

Riddles  of  Sakka,  an  old  Sut- 
tanta,  180 

Rig  Veda,  30,  46,  213,  223,  226, 
232,  236,  242 

Roruka,  later  Roruva,  capital  of 
SovTra,  38 

Rudradaman’s  inscription,  28, 
134,  267 

S 

Sacrifice,  brahmin  theory  of, 
240-242;  lay  view,  of  248,  249; 
Asoka’s  view  of,  296 
Sagala,  capital  of  the  Maddas. 
38 

Sailors,  94 
Sakas.  312  foil. 

Saketa,  town  in  Kosala,  39,  103 


330 


INDEX 


Sakiyas,  the  clan,  17  foil.;  Vidu- 
dabha’s  campaign  against,  1 1 ; 
pride  of,  11;  the  Sakiya  tope, 
17,  90,  100,  130,  133;  subject 
to  Kosala,  259 

Sakka,  the  god,  the  riddles  he 
asked,  180;  takes  the  place  of 
Indra,  234 
Samajja,  185 

Samaratl,  queen  of  the  Vacchas,  7 
Sambodhi,  282 

Sanam  Kumara,  the  god,  224 
Sanchi  Tope,  198,  288 
Sanitary  arrangements,  78 
Sankara,  156,  187 
Sanskrit,  Indian  use  of  the  term, 
154;  its  relation  to  Pali,  128- 
139;  date  of  the  use  of,  in 
India,  134-136,  315,  316;  com- 
pared to  Latin,  136,  137;  was 
it  a spoken  language?  148, 
149,  154;  its  alphabets,  155; 
of  the  schools,  211 
Sariputta,  169,  288 
Satraps,  312-314 
Savatthi,  in  Nepal,  capital  of 
Kosala,  25,  40,  103,  290 
Scrollwork,  along  buildings,  77 
Seleukos  Nikator,  268 
Self-torture,  see  Tapas 
Semitic  alphabets,  114 
Senart,  on  caste,  62 ; on  the 
Gosinga  anthology,  124;  on 
the  Asoka  inscriptions,  132  ; 
on  the  post-Asoka  inscriptions, 
152;  on  the  Jataka  verses,  205; 
on  the  Ceylon  chronicles,  276 
Seniya,  an  ascetic,  245 
Setavya,  in  Kosala,  103 
Seven-storied  buildings,  70 
Sigalovada  Suttanta,  185 
Silas,  a tract,  107,  215 
Singhalese,  the  so-called  canon  of 
the,  171  ; commentaries,  201, 
207 

Siri,  the  goddess  of  luck,  217 
Sisunaga,  king  of  Magadha, 
, makes  Vesali  the  capital,  37 
Sirva,  the  god,  166 
Sivi,  the  country,  28 


Slaves  in  ancient  India,  origin, 
position,  and  numbers  of,  55, 
263 

Smith,  Mr.  Vincent,  315 
Social  grades  in  ancient  India, 
52-62 

Soma,  the  intoxicating  drink,  as 
god,  219,  231,  235 
Sona,  the  river,  24 
Sophists,  246,  248 
Soul-theories,  souls  in  trees,  227  ; 
size  and  shape  of  the  soul,  251  ; 
absent  in  disease  and  sleep, 
252 

South  India,  not  mentioned  in 
the  Buddhist  canon,  29-32, 
174 

SovTra,  the  country,  29,  38,  104  ; 
the  port,  1 16 

Spelling,  in  Indian  inscriptions, 
compared  with  English,  132- 
1 35 

Spiritual  matters,  247,  257 
Stars,  beliefs  about,  6 
Stonework,  66,  90 
Strabo,  260  foil. 

Stylites,  St.  Simeon,  244 
Suddhodana.the  Buddha’s  father, 

• r9 

Sudras,  their  position  among  the 
Colours,  54  ; fate  of  learned, 
t 1 8 

Suicide,  109 

Sumana,  princess  in  Kosala,  10 
Sun-god,  197,  219,  255 
Supparaka,  the  seaport,  31,  38, 
116 

Sura,  intoxicating  drink,  204 
Surasenas,  ancient  tribe,  27 
Sutta,  as  name  of  book  or  chap- 
ter, 168,  169 

Sutta  Nipata,  growth  of,  177- 
180  ; tree-worship  in,  226 
Suttantas,  treatises  so-called,  8 ; 
learning  them  by  heart,  no; 
cut  off  at  the  root,  hi  ; for- 
gotten, 1 12  ; afterwards  called 
Suttas,  169 

Suttantika,  one  who  knows  a 
Suttanta,  168 


INDEX 


331 


T 

Tagara,  the  town,  31 
Tagara-sikhin,  31 
Takka-sila  (Takshila),  seat  of 
learning  in  N.  W.  India,  8, 
28,  203  ; copper  plates  from, 
124;  capital  of  the  Kushanas, 
3U 

Tamil  words  in  use  in  the  West, 
116 

Tamralipti,  seaport,  103 
Tanks,  for  bathing,  74,  75  ; for 
irrigation,  86 

Tapas,  self-torture,  growth  of 
doctrine  of,  242  foil. 

Teaching,  etiquette  of,  5 ; brah- 
min views  about,  249 
Temples,  none,  in  ancient  times, 
241 

Tilaura  Kot,  site  of  Kapilavastu, 
18 

Tirhut,  32,  41 

Tissa,  son  of  Moggali,  299 

Titans,  224,  241 

Toleration,  296 

Topes,  see  Dagabas 

T rade  routes,  102-104 

Trades,  89  foil. 

Tree-worship,  224-233 
Tribal  migration  in  India,  32 
Tribes,  the  sixteen  chief,  in  pre- 
Buddhistic  times,  23  foil. 

T rita,  the  god,  235 
T ruth  lower  than  sacrifice,  243 
Turbans,  94,  97 

Turkestan,  MSS.  discovered  in, 
128 

U 

Uddalaka  Aruni,  his  defeat  in  ar- 
gument, 247  ; his  influence  on 
pantheistic  thought,  257 
Udena,  king  of  Kosambi,  3 foil., 
7 

Udyana,  the  country7,  29 
United  Provinces,  42 
Ujjeni,  capital  of  Avanti,  3,  40. 
103  ; Magadha  viceroys  at, 
260.  272 


Upanishads,  162,  187,  223,  226, 
250,  255 

Upasaka,  2S2,  294 
UrvasI,  236. 

V 

Vacchas,  see  Vamsas 
Vaikhanasa  Sutra,  144 
Vaisyas,  their  social  rank,  54 
Vajapeya  sacrifices,  203 
Vajira,  daughter  of  Pasenadi, 
married  to  Ajatasattu,  4 
Vajjians,  their  powerful  confed- 
eration, 25,  26,  40 
Valmlki,  31 

Vamsas,  or  Yatsas,  3,  27 
Varuna,  the  god,  219,  235 
Vasula-datta,  legend  of,  4 foil. 
Vayu,  wind-god,  235 
Vedanta,  163,  168 
Vedic  language,  153  ; divinities, 
155,  15S;  hymns,  interpreta- 
tion of,  162 

Vedisa,  in  Avanti,  103,  288 
Vegetable  diet,  result  of,  42 
Vekhanassa,  follower  of  Vikha- 
nas,  142,  144 
Vesali,  29,  40 
Yessas,  54,  55 

Yessavana,  the  god,  see  Kuvera 
Videha,  as  kingdom  and  repub- 
lic, 26,  37 

Yidudabha,  king  of  Kosala,  4, 
11,  12 

Vikhanas,  a teacher,  144 
Village,  customs,  45  foil.;  head 
men,  49 

Vimana  Vatthu,  176 
Vindhya  Hills,  29 
Vishnu,  219,  236 

W 

Wanderers,  the,  their  discussion 
halls,  141  ; names  of  corpo- 
rate bodies  among,  143-146  ; 
freedom  of  thought  among, 
247,  258  ; their  Dhamma,  294 


332 


INDEX 


Weavers,  54,  57,  go 
Weber,  Professor,  113,  114 
Wickramasinha,  Mr.,  115 
Windisch,  Professor,  180 
Winternitz.  Professor,  igo 
Wisdom-tree,  23c 
Woodwork,  66,  go,  264 
Writers,  astrade,  10S 
Writing,  history  of,  107-127 


Y 

Yoga  Sutras,  ig7 
Yueh-ti,  313  foil. 

Z 

Zimmer,  Professor,  87,  232 


WORKS  BY 

T.  W.  RHYS  DAVIDS,  LL.D.,  Ph.D.,  F.B.A. 


I.  American  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Religions.  First 

Series.  Buddhism.  (8vo,  pp.  xiv  -)-  230  ; New  York  and  Lon- 
don— G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons,  1896.)  $1.50. 

“ Now,  in  spite  of  ourselves,  we  cannot  choose  but  hear  what  we 
ought  to  have  known  for  at  least  half  a century,  the  true  story  of 
Buddhism  as  it  is.” — Saturday  Review. 

“Aluminous  and  fascinating  introduction  to  a profoundly  inter- 
esting subject.  Apart,  however,  from  its  leading  purpose,  the  book 
is  an  eloquent  plea  for  the  use  of  the  historic  method  in  the  study  of 
religions.” — The  Nation. 

“ If  all  books  about  Buddhism,  or  about  other  religions,  were  as 
thoughtful  and  sober  as  this  one,  the  scoffer  would  have  less  occupa- 
tion.”— 'Tribune  (New  York). 

II.  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha.  Vol.  I.  (Svo,  pp.  xxiv-j-330; 
London — Oxford  University  Press,  1S99.) 

“ Prof.  Rhys  Davids  has  produced  a book  which  no  future  histor- 
ian of  Indian  thought  can  pass  over.” — Atheneeum. 

“ Yery  timely,  therefore,  is  the  appearance  in  English  form  of  such 
ancient  and  authoritative  texts  of  Buddhism  as  are  these  Dialogues 
of  the  Dlgha  Nikaya,  and  withal  from  so  masterly  a hand  as  that  of 
Prof.  Rhys  Davids.” — Prof.  Lanman  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society. 

“ These  dialogues — some  of  which  are  dramatic  enough  to  recall 
the  controversies  of  St.  Patrick  with  the  old  pagan  Oisin — will  open 
a new  world  to  the  Western  reader.” — Speaker. 

“ No  better  translator  could  have  been  selected  than  the  Secretary 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  who  is  admittedly  the  best  Pali  scholar 
in  England.  ...  It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  here  not  only  the 
earliest  traditional  record  of  the  viva  voce  teaching  of  the  Buddha, 
but  also  a vivid  commentary  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  his 
time.  Mr.  Rhys  Davids’s  introductions  to  the  several  Suttas  and 
his  footnotes  leave  little  to  be  desired.” — Saturday  Review. 

“ The  notes  throughout  are  amine  of  information  ; and  the  whole 
work  is  well  worthy  of  the  reputation  of  the  learned  translator.” — 
Asiatic  Quarterly  Review. 

III.  Buddhism:  being  a Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Teachings  of 

Gotama  the  Buddha.  With  a Map.  (Small  Svo  ; London  — 
Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge.  1S7S.)  Fifteenth 
Thousand.  2s.  6 d. 


“ We  do  not  know  of  any  other  work  from  which  so  fair  and  com- 
plete an  account  can  be  obtained  of  that  wonderful  religion  which 
has  so  much  in  common  with  Christianity,  and  has  numbered  more 
adherents  than  any  other  religion  in  the  world.” — Academy. 

“Altogether  higher  stands  the  little  work  of  Mr.  Rhys  Davids, 
. . . written  in  an  agreeable  style,  and  with  great  knowledge  of  the 
facts.  . . . which  we  should  wish  to  see  in  the  hands  of  all  students 
of  religious  history,  and  hope  to  see  translated  into  our  own  language.” 

— Theologisch  Tijdschrift. 

“ Difficult  to  speak  in  too  high  terms  of  this  admirable  little  book.” 

— Theological  Review. 

“ Undoubtedly  the  best  introduction  to  the  history  of  Buddhism 
at  present  existing.”—  Ceylon  Observer. 

IV.  Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  or  Jataka  Tales;  the  Oldest 

Collection  of  Folk-lore  Extant.  (8vo  ; London — Triibner.  Vol. 

I.  1880.)  i8r. 

“Among  the  various  contributions  to  the  comparative  study  of 
folk-lore,  Mr.  Rhys  Davids's  translation  of  the  Jatakas  must  take  a 
foremost  place.” — Saturday  Review. 

“ These  tales  are  probably  the  nearest  representatives  of  the  origi- 
nal Aryan  stories  from  which  sprang  the  folk-lore  of  Europe  as  well 
as  of  India,  and  from  which  the  Semitic  nations  also  borrowed  much. 
The  Introduction  contains  a most  interesting  disquisition  on  the  mi- 
grations of  those  fables,  tracing  their  reappearance  in  the  various 
groups  of  folk-lore  legends  known  as  ‘ .Esop’s  Fables,’  ‘The  Hito- 
padesa,’  ‘ The  Kalilag  and  Damnag  Series,'  and  even  ‘ The  Arabian 
Nights.’  Among  other  old  friends  we  meet  with  a version  of  the 
Judgment  of  Solomon,  which  proves  after  all  to  be  an  Aryan,  and  not 
a Semitic  tale.” — Times. 

“No  more  competent  exponent  of  Buddhism  could  be  found  than 
Mr.  Rhys  Davids.  These  Birth  Stories,  of  which  he  has  now  given 
us  the  first  instalment,  will  be  of  the  greatest  interest  and  importance 
to  students.” — St.  James’s  Gazette. 

“ The  translation  could  not  have  fallen  into  better  hands.  And 
what  is  no  small  merit,  when  we  consider  the  involved  style  of  Buddh- 
ist writings,  it  is  easy  to  read,  though  at  the  same  time  it  is  faithful 
throughout.” — Revue  de  V llisloire  des  Religions. 

“The  English  version,  while  strictly  literal,  is  thoroughly  idio- 
matic. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  Pali  scholar  could  have 
been  found  more  competent  for  the  work  than  he  to  whom  it  has 
been  entrusted.  He  has  thoroughly  entered  into  the  spirit  of  his 
original,  and  his  renderings,  even  of  the  most  difficult  passages,  are 
always  most  accurate  and  felicitous.  In  a valuable  and  interesting 
introduction,  the  translator  traces  the  course  of  transmigration  of  the 
Buddhist  stories  and  fables  from  East  to  West — by  many  and  various 
courses,  Hindu,  Persian.  Arabic.  Syriac,  Greek — through  the  Kalilag 
and  Damnag  literature  down  to  the  so-called  fables  of  Esop.” — 
Contemporary  Review. 


V.  The  Hibbert  Lectures,  1881  ; being  Lectures  on  the 

Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion  as  illustrated  by  some  points  in 
the  History  of  Indian  Buddhism.  (Svo  ; London — Williams  & 
Norgate,  1SS1.)  Second  Edition. 

“ Cannot  be  too  highly  praised  for  learned  research  and  lucidity  of 
expression.” — Spectator. 

“It  is  a subject  with  which  Mr.  Rhys  Davids  is  singularly  well 
qualified  to  deal  : from  his  probably  unequalled  knowledge  of  the 
Pali  literature,  which  is  the  fountain-head  of  Buddhism  ; the  wide 
intellectual  cultivation  whereby  he  is  able  to  bring  out  of  his  treas- 
ures things  new  and  old  for  comparison,  for  illustration,  for  embel- 
lishment : his  firm  grasp  of  scientific  principles  ; and  the  breadth  of 
his  sympathies,  at  once  keen  and  discriminating.  And  the  manner  in 
which  he  has  executed  his  task  is  such  as  to  satisfy  the  high  expec- 
tations raised  by  these  qualifications.  In  conclusion,  let  us  add — 
what,  indeed,  will  have  been  evident  from  our  extracts — that  he  is  a 
master  of  clear,  vigorous,  and  graceful  English.” — St.  James's  Gazette. 

“ No  one  has  expounded  the  doctrines  of  Buddhism  as  we  know 
them  here,  in  such  a trustworthy  and  scholarly  manner.” — Ceylon 
Times. 

“Singularly  bright  and  graceful,  incisive  in  criticism,  easy  and 
flexible,  familiar  yet  dignified  in  style,  full  of  suggestive  matter  sug- 
gestively presented,  and  everywhere  lighted  up  with  a fine  moral  en- 
thusiasm for  the  higher  ideals  and  nobler  personalities  of  the  faith 
described.  When  Mr.  Rhys  Davids  is  most  the  critical  scholar,  he 
never  forgets  that  he  is  handling  a religion  ; when  he  is  most  earnest 
as  the  interpreter  of  a religion,  he  never  ceases  to  be  critical  and 
scholarly.” — Principal  Fairbairn  in  the  Academy. 

“ For  what  I have  said  about  Indian  Philosophy  I am  particularly 
indebted  to  the  luminous  exposition  of  primitive  Buddhism  and  its 
relations  to  earliest  Hindu  thought,  which  is  given  by  Professor 
Rhys  Davids  in  his  remarkable  * Hibbert  Lectures’  for  18S1,  and 
‘ Buddhism,’  1890.  The  only  apology  I can  offer  for  the  freedom 
with  which  I have  borrowed  from  him  in  these  notes  is  my  desire  to 
leave  no  doubt  as  to  my  indebtedness." — Professor  Huxley  in  the 
“ Romanes  Lecture,”  1893. 

“ Mr.  Rhys  Davids  has  sought  to  throw  light  on  religion  generally. 
The  exposition  clearly  indicates  the  fountains  of  emotion  and  thought 
whence  the  system  issued  ; and  the  process  of  after  crystallization  is 
also  put  before  the  reader  in  clear  and  impressive  outlines.  The 
author’s  reflections  on  the  story  take  the  form  of  suggestions  for  com- 
parative study.  ...  So  Buddhism  may  help  the  understanding  of 
Christian  origins  as  the  Vedas  illustrate  classical  mythology.  The 
inculcation  of  such  methods  and  principles  give  the  book  its  greatest 
value,  and  it  will  be  esteemed  as  a discipline  even  more  than  as  a 
source  of  information.” — Mind. 


Heroes  of  the  Nations. 


A Series  of  biographical  studies  of  the  lives  and 
work  of  a number  of  representative  historical  char- 
acters about  whom  have  gathered  the  great  traditions 
of  the  Nations  to  which  they  belonged,  and  who  have 
been  accepted,  in  many  instances,  as  types  of  the 
several  National  ideals.  With  the  life  of  each 
typical  character  will  be  presented  a picture  of  the 
National  conditions  surrounding  him  during  his 
career. 

The  narratives  are  the  work  of  writers  who  are 
recognized  authorities  on  their  several  subjects,  and, 
while  thoroughly  trustworthy  as  history,  will  present 
picturesque  and  dramatic  “stories”  of  the  Men  and 
of  the  events  connected  with  them. 

To  the  Life  of  each  “Hero”  will  be  given  one  duo- 
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For  full  list  of  volumes  see  next  page. 


HEROES  OF  THE  NATIONS 


NELSON.  By  W.  Clark  Russell. 
GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.  By  C. 
R.  L.  Fletcher. 

PERICLES.  By  Evelyn  Abbott. 
THEODORIC  THE  GOTH.  By 
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SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY.  By  H.  R. 
Fox -Bourne. 

JULIUS  C-ESAR.  By  W.  Warde 
Fowler. 

WYCLIF.  By  Lewis  Sergeant. 
NAPOLEON.  By  W.  O'Connor 
Morris. 

HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.  By  P. 
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CICERO.  By  J.  L.  Strachan- 
Davidson. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  By  Noah 
Brooks. 

PRINCE  HENRY  (OF  PORTU- 
GAL) THE  NAVIGATOR. 
By  C.  R.  Beazley. 

JULIAN  THE  PHILOSOPHER. 

By  Alice  Gardner. 

LOUIS  XIV.  By  Arthur  Hassall. 
CHARLES  XII.  By  R.  Nisbet 
Bain. 

LORENZO  DE’  MEDICI.  By  Ed- 
ward Armstrong. 

JEANNE  D’ARC.  By  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant. 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS.  By 
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ROBERT  THE  BRUCE.  By  Sir 
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MOLTKE.  By  Spencer  Wilkinson. 
JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  By  Israel 
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SOBIESKI.  By  F.  A.  Pollard. 
ALFRED  THE  TRUTHTELLER. 

By  Frederick  Perry. 
FREDERICK  II.  By  A.  L.  Smith. 


MARLBOROUGH.  By  C.  W.  C. 
Oman. 

RICH  ARDTH  ELION-HEARTED 
By  T.  A.  Archer. 

WILLIAM  THE  SILENT.  By 
Ruth  Putnam. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM’S  SONS,  Publishers, 
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London 


The  Story  of  the  Nations. 


In  the  story  form  the  current  of  each  National  life 
is  distinctly  indicated,  and  its  picturesque  and  note- 
worthy periods  and  episodes  are  presented  for  the 
reader  in  their  philosophical  relation  to  each  other 
as  well  as  to  universal  history. 

It  is  the  plan  of  the  writers  of  the  different  volumes 
to  enter  into  the  real  life  of  the  peoples,  and  to  bring 
them  before  the  reader  as  they  actually  lived,  labored, 
and  struggled — as  they  studied  and  wrote,  and  as 
they  amused  themselves.  In  carrying  out  this  plan, 
the  myths,  with  which  the  history  of  all  lands  begins, 
will  not  be  overlooked,  though  these  will  be  carefully 
distinguished  from  the  actual  history,  so  far  as  the 
labors  of  the  accepted  historical  authorities  have 
resulted  in  definite  conclusions. 

The  subjects  of  the  different  volumes  have  been 
planned  to  cover  connecting  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
consecutive  epochs  or  periods,  so  that  the  set  when 
completed  will  present  in  a comprehensive  narrative 
the  chief  events  in  the  great  Story  of  the  Nations; 
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the  several  volumes  in  their  chronological  order. 


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THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS 


GREECE.  Prof.  Jas.  A.  Harrison. 
ROME.  Arthur  Gilman. 

THE  JEWS.  Prof.  James  K.  Hos- 
mer. 

CHALDEA.  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
GERMANY.  S.  Baring-Gould. 
NORWAY.  Hjalmar  H.  Boyesen. 
SPAIN.  Rev.  E.  E.  and  Susan 
Hale. 

HUNGARY.  Prof.  A.  Vambery. 
CARTHAGE.  Prof.  Alfred  J. 
Church. 

THE  SARACENS.  Arthur  Gil- 
man. 

THE  MOORS  IN  SPAIN.  Stanley 
Lane-Poole. 

THE  NORMANS.  Sarah  Ome 
Jewett. 

PERSIA.  S.  G.  W.  Benjamin. 
ANCIENT  EGYPT.  Prof.  Geo. 
Rawlinson. 

ALEXANDER'S  EMPIRE.  Prof. 
J.  P.  Mahaffy. 

ASSYRIA.  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 

THE  GOTHS.  Henry  Bradley. 
IRELAND.  Hon.  Emily  Lawless. 
TURKEY.  Stanley  Lane-Poole. 
MEDIA,  BABYLON,  AND  PER- 
SIA. Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
MEDIEVAL  FRANCE.  Prof.  Gus- 
tave Masson. 

HOLLAND.  Prof.  J.  Thorold 
Rogers. 

MEXICO.  Susan  Hale. 
PHCENICIA.  George  Rawlinson. 
THE  HANSA  TOWNS.  Helen 
Zimmem. 

EARLY  BRITAIN.  Prof.  Alfred 
J.  Church. 

THE  BARBARY  CORSAIRS. 

Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

RUSSIA.  W.  R.  Morfill. 

THE  JEWS  UNDER  ROME.  W. 
D.  Morrison. 

SCOTLAND.  John  Mackintosh. 
SWITZERLAND.  R.  Stead  and 
Mrs.  A.  Hug. 

PORTUGAL.  H.  Morse-Stephens. 


THE  BYZANTINE  EMPIRE.  C. 
W.  C.  Oman. 

SICILY.  E.  A.  Freeman. 

THE  TUSCAN  REPUBLICS. 
Bella  Duffy. 

POLAND.  W.  R.  Morfill. 
PARTHIA.  Geo.  Rawlinson. 
JAPAN.  David  Murray. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  RECOVERY 
OF  SPAIN.  H.  E.  Watts. 
AUSTRALASIA.  Greville  Tregar- 
then. 

SOUTHERN  AFRICA.  Geo.  M. 
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VENICE.  Alethea  Wiel. 

THE  CRUSADES.  T.  S.  Archer 
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VEDIC  INDIA.  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
BOHEMIA.  C.  E.  Maurice. 
CANADA.  J.  G.  Bourinot. 

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BRITISH  RULE  IN  INDIA.  R. 
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THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE.  Alfred 
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THE  FRANKS.  Lewis  Sergeant. 
THE  WEST  INDIES.  Amos  K. 
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AUSTRIA.  Sidney  Whitman. 
CHINA.  Robt.  K.  Douglass. 
MODERN  SPAIN.  Major  Martin 
A.  S.  Hume. 

MODERN  ITALY.  Pietro  Orsi. 
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THE  PAPAL  MONARCHY.  Wm. 
Barry. 

MEDIAEVAL  INDIA.  Stanley 
Lane-Poole. 

BUDDHIST  INDIA.  T.  W.  Rhys- 
Davids. 


Date  Due 


